North Carolina Red Cross volunteers are heading to the Gulf Coast with food, water and emergency supplies following Hurricane Isaias’ landfall Oct. 9 in Florida.
But volunteers say one of the most important things they bring can’t be packed into an emergency kit.
“Compassion,” volunteer Dan Wood of Leland said. “People want to talk because they just experienced something horrible, and so we listen, give them resources and try to help them out.”
More help is on the way
Isaias, downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone by Oct. 10, left more than 800,000 homes without power, said James Jarvis, the American Red Cross regional disaster officer for North Carolina. Jarvis said the Red Cross operated 21 shelters across the impact area overnight, housing 1,165 people.
More than 40
North Carolina disaster workers are already supporting affected communities, with relief operations coming out of Wilmington, Charlotte and Fayetteville.
“We had thousands of volunteers that came to help us with (Hurricane) Helene just two years ago, and so we’re repaying that favor by going to help our sister states when they need us,” Jarvis said.
Longtime Red Cross volunteers Helen Miller of Jacksonville and Wood departed for Tallahassee, Florida, in a Red Cross mission response vehicle the morning of Oct. 10. After media interviews at the American Red Cross Wilmington chapter headquarters on South 16th Street, the pair began the drive south.
The Red Cross has a dozen emergency response vehicles that can serve up to 2,000 people a day in Tallahassee, Jarvis said.
Two disaster response veterans
The trip marks Miller’s 101st deployment since 2009. She has been a Red Cross volunteer for 35 years. For Wood, a volunteer since 1972, it is his 24th deployment.
Just weeks earlier, Miller was in Indiana responding to flooding and a tornado, while Wood was in Oregon responding to a wildfire.
“Our mission is to alleviate the suffering after an emergency,” Wood said. “I find it very rewarding, and that’s one reason why I do it. You’re meeting people who it could be the worst day of their life. They never expected to be in a shelter or maybe having a home fire. We try to immediately help them.”
Last year, 980 Red Cross volunteers from North Carolina were deployed, Jarvis said.
“One of the most impactful things that we get to do is help people when they need us the most,” he said.
Before departing, Miller returned to the theme of compassion.
“These people are going to need compassion,” she said. “We have compassion as volunteers in the American Red Cross. They’re going to need us. I even give some of these people a hug, and they keep that feeling when I leave them.”
Bob Liepa is the city of Wilmington and public safety reporter for the StarNews. You can reach him at RLiepa@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Leland native among Red Cross volunteers going south for Isaias relief
