More relief was on the way for evacuees from Hurricane Ike yesterday as tens of thousands of people waited for food, water and ice; for the electricity to return to their homes; or for their first hot meal and shower.
Many of the more than 30,000 evacuees are still living in nearly 300 public shelters.
Over the past two weeks, the Newburyport chapter of the American Red Cross has deployed seven people to assist with disaster relief efforts for the residents affected by Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike. The American Red Cross National Headquarters sent out a request Monday for 1,000 more volunteers.
Charles Vose of Ipswich, Cherie Antle of Amesbury and Rebecca Taylor of Amesbury are among those who are currently or have already been to Texas to assist hurricane victims. Vose has been working at the Red Cross headquarters in Fort Worth for more than two weeks along with volunteers who had been working to help victims of Gustav. Now with Ike, a category 2 hurricane, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless, volunteers and aid are being spread thin, he said.
"We don't have enough volunteers," Vose said. "Some of them are on their third or fourth disaster relief. They've been here for two months and haven't seen their families. They're exhausted."
Normally, volunteers serve a two- to three-week commitment at disaster relief sites, often working 16 hour days, said Cindy Quinn, emergency services director of the Newburyport branch of the Red Cross.
The Red Cross has opened 174 shelters that are housing more than 20,000 people and counting.
"We've just started opening shelters near the devastated area," Vose said. "Folks who have been staying in hotels or in shelters are just returning home to find their houses demolished, and they need a place to stay."
Ike's survivors have already walked for miles and waited for hours at supply centers, which distributed 1 million bottles of water, 1 million meals and 600,000 pounds of ice in just the first 36 hours after the storm passed. Vose explained that the Red Cross planned to distribute more than a half-million meals Monday.
"About 97 percent of the people working here are volunteers," Vose said. "They leave their jobs, take vacation time, or their employers pay them. We have retired people, retired military. Lots of great people."
Local Animal Control officer Rebecca Taylor was deployed to Austin under the International Fund for Animal Welfare and hopes to be back in Newburyport by the end of next weekend.
"This was all very sudden," Taylor said. "I feel guilty leaving everything I was working on in the city, and those I was working with."
Amesbury's Cherie Antle spent two weeks in Louisiana helping with feeding operations after Hurricane Gustav.
"Not many people are willing to do it," Antle said. "But you meet so many nice people. The people you meet are like you; they want to help."
Before volunteers can be deployed, they are required to complete Disaster Relief courses to prepare them for challenges they face on assignment. Most volunteers, who have come from all 50 states, are trained at their local chapter, but some "spontaneous volunteers" are trained on-site.
"Training consists of a series of classes," Quinn said. "The first explaining our mission and what the experience will be like."
That experience is a grueling one, trekking through unsafe debris and wading through floodwaters contaminated with fuel and chemicals.
"It gets pretty grim living in basements, having gang showers and eating the same peanut butter cookies every day," Antle said.
But the satisfaction of helping is rewarding to her.
"It's an intense atmosphere — a natural high. Everyone's in it together," she said. "In any big disaster like this, people tend to band together."
The other classes teach volunteers feeding operations, shelter operations, and bulk distribution of foods and goods.
"We really, really need people," Vose said. "We need to replace these volunteers that have been here all summer."
Taking a training course now would enable a volunteer to be deployed by late October for relief efforts, Quinn said.
She adds that if people have commitments prohibiting them from traveling, they can help out locally by donating blood, working at a call center or by volunteering for local disaster relief, which consists of the same courses as national disaster.
"We can teach counseling, for those people that need to get going after disaster," Quinn said. "These people lost things, had to move and all different other problems. You can help them."
Vose explained that any monetary donations given to the Red Cross would be helpful, no matter the amount.
"We're very short on money. We had raised a lot, but the funds used on Gustav made the disaster relief fund go back down to zero," Vose said. "All the charitable groups desperately need funds. There have been so many tornadoes and hurricanes, we can't keep up."
Despite a lack of funds, the volunteers won't give up.
"We're going to do it no matter what. Even if we have to borrow money," Vose said.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
HOW TO HELP
Red Cross: To donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, log-on to www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make a donation, or write a check to your local chapter.
You can also use your cell phone to donate $5 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by text messaging the keyword "GIVE" to "2HELP" (24357).
Salvation Army: Visit www.salvationarmydfw.org and go to the online form where donations can be marked for "DFW Emergency Relief."
