What I did in Louisiana

The day to day of what I did while working at my shelter…
I had intended to stay for 3 weeks, but I got salmonella poisoning, and came home early. When I am feeling a bit better, I will volunteer with my local Red Cross chapter, and will certainly go back the coast if they need me there once I am 100% here is what a typical day was kind of like…

610 am wake up get ready

630 am head to home-ec room/kitchen and help prepare breakfast I usually just opened cans, or stirred stuff or washed dishes and cleaned… there were 2 ladies that were residents of the shelter that kind of took the lead on what to cook for breakfast… lots of pancakes, grits, eggs, biscuits stuff like that, and tons of little cans of fruit cocktail and assorted other stuff that needed to be opened up  - I was good at that..  In the home-ec room there were two huge center islands, and 4 stoves, a little bigger than a usual home stove but not industrial by any means we used the tools and pans and containers that the school had there for us so we would cook everything up, and then sit it on the center island and make an assembly line to scoop the food into the Styrofoam containers that we had.. (I am informed they are called clamshells – and some couldn’t remember that name and called them oyster shells)  - so we would let people start in line about 8am and be done serving by 9-915 – then I helped with cleanup and washed all tables and chairs down, put the chairs up on top of the tables and vacuumed… there were always things to do in the kitchen… take out the 10 garbage cans, or fill the big tub with more ice and bottled water… or mop, or wipe stuff down, there were a ton of things to do in the kitchen…

930 we had a brief staff meeting. I was technically in charge of events and happenings, and news, and helping in kitchen and planning and doing activities with the little kids each night… Anyone who knows me, knows I loved that part (

So about 10 I would meet with Joe, the shelter manager, and we would go over any news that he wanted me to write out on papers and post at all major doors, or stuff that just needed to go on our updates bulletin board… by the time I got all those signs made up and dispersed, it was usually time go to the back of the school area and get bags of ice to restock the kitchen and front office, or various errands and then on to helping with lunch at 1130 – lunch and supper were hot meals cooked for us by the volunteers of the Southern Baptist Convention churches… They had volunteers much like the Red Cross does, and would cook all day… that food was put into big red containers, called Cambros, that kept hot food hot, and cold food cold, losing only one degree per hour if they were not opened… So the ERV (emergency response vehicle) would deliver us that food, and also supplies that they knew we needed and could get their hands on for us like cups and clamshells, and misc. snacks etc… after serving lunch, we again cleaned up so at about 2pm I usually went up to the front desk to see if they needed any help with room counts.. every day (or nearly every day, depending) we would knock on all the residents doors and ask who was all still there in that room, and make an accurate count, so we would know who had gone, and who all remained… it was a nice time to get to check on everyone and see how they were doing, and if they needed anything (that we could provide) they all needed things we couldn’t even begin to help with.
From about 4-530 I just ran errands and helped anyone who was doing something, there was always plenty to do, and I tried to plan something to do with the kids that evening
Again, 530 prepare for dinner, 730 done with cleanup from that … 730to 9 was fun time for the kids, and we did coloring contests, and had story time, and watched a movie, always with a snack involved… Sometimes this part was hard, because I was the only staff assigned to entertain 20-25 kids, from way too young (like 2 and in diapers) to old, like 15… so sometimes the kids got a bit out of hand, but they knew the rules - you don’t listen, you get sent back to your room -  no snack  -- I had a few little stuffed animals that Joe the shelter manager had scrounged up too, so I could give those out as top prize for the night, who behaved best that night etc… after the kids got their snack and headed back to their rooms, I just cleaned up the area we used, and then headed for bed, usually by 930-10 and for my baby-wipe shower, and for my cell phone to call home and see how the family was…. We girls had our own classroom that we slept in, and usually we would swap stories of our day, and a few tears over things that had been said, or witnessed, or just over a long, rough day.

Our Staff at Pearl River High School Red Cross Shelter

Joe – Shelter Manager (In Charge) Went out into town to get supplies from Wal-Mart, oversaw all of us other Red Crossers and volunteers, and I would assume made any and all contact with the Red Cross headquarters

Bob- 1st time disaster volunteer, handled front desk and housing (assigning rooms etc) He was also the ice hauler, the overflowing sink/toilet fixer, the all around helpful guy if you needed anything done that took two people, he would always come to your rescue

Pam- Canadian Red Cross Volunteer, Experienced… Front desk, in charge of list of residents and checking in and out and various questions/concerns

Sandy – Canadian Red Cross Volunteer, Experienced - Headed the kitchen ordering and supplies, and oversaw menus etc…

Sharon – Nurse (RN) – experienced volunteer – took care of sick (as best we could) oversaw the special needs people in the shelter library, and coordinated when the doctors came to see residents – also helped us with whatever was needed when she was not busy

Angel – 1st time disaster volunteer  - did whatever was asked of me, helped with all 3 meals, in charge of signs that went up giving info on showers and news and FEMA and various other happenings… ran children’s programs at night


We had 3 other people with us, that were running the shelter with Joe before Bob, Pam, Sandy and I arrived. They were from Ohio I think, and they were Ralph, Fred, and Carl (Carl was the manager)
They have a term at the Red Cross LDV Local Disaster Volunteers …usually people residing in the shelter that agree and want to help with meals or cleaning or whatever they would like to do… we had some great ones!!! A couple of guys usually volunteered to take out all the garbage after mealtime, and some helped us serve meals if we were spread too thin, 2 ladies in particular helped cook breakfast every morning, it was great since they knew what the people of LA would want to eat, and they could tell us Yankees how to make it … they were wonderful!!!!

For a short time, we also had Victor. He is a HAM radio operator and drove from Texas (I think) to help us get communication with headquarters… sometimes he could get right through, and sometimes he had to relay messages through someone in Slidell, a neighboring town, and get them to Covington or Baton Rouge that way. He was a very nice guy, and even offered to let us hear the radio news, or TV news at ten when he got it to come in Only bad thing was we were all so tired, that we just opted to go to bed instead. He is a very smart guy, with a lot of contacts it seems   I don’t really think he got the respect he deserved in our staff meetings, but I think he was great. Our link to the outside world

I don’t think I am really ready to figure out what I want to say about how it was down there, as far as the residents we talked with and met and lived with, or the stories we heard, there is good and bad, and I don’t think I can get out what I want to say fully.
One thing was, even though we KNEW that the people were upset with the Red Cross being so slow in their efforts of help, not many of those residents ever had a bad thing to say to us. I know they talked on their own, but when we were serving dinner, or walking by, or offering them help in any way, they were for the most part all very, very thankful that we were there, and of the things we COULD do for them up to that point. It felt very weird hearing them say thank you, when they had things much worse than we did. They were still grateful.

I will write more about the people and how they were coping and that type of thing, but right now, I am still not feeling 100% and, I don’t know for sure what stories to share, so I will think a bit more on that and post it when I think I have a good plan