What we're doing here

While Consuelo and I are working in headquarters, hundreds of Red Cross volunteers are spread throughout Louisiana providing assistance to folks affected by the hurricanes. I thought it was time to share some of the Red Cross official images with y'all out there, so you could see what we'all are up to down here.

The shelter in the picture is empty, but that's just because we don't publicize pictures of shelters with residents in them. But you get the idea of how much room each person gets to sleep, store their belongings, and relax to wait until their homes are OK to go back to, or they find another place to stay. You might think that the space is too small. But keep in mind that the Red Cross mission is to provide basic needs, and a safe place to sleep doesn't need to be large.

We have about 112 of these food delivery trucks delivering food throughout the affected areas. Some of them park in fixed locations, and our clients come to the truck. Others circulate through less densely populated neighborhoods and deliver directly to the residents who may still be in their homes but without facilities to cook.

Driving these ERV trucks is rewarding for the volunteers, as they come into contact with grateful clients. But they work a long, hard day. They start early each morning, driving from the staff shelter to the kitchen, loading supplies, water, and food. The hot food goes into 'Cambro' containers, which keep food hot for hours. Even so, ERV drivers check the temperature of the food often, and if it drops below a safe temperature, it is discarded.

After they have delivered their load, they return to the kitchen, sanitize their truck and everything in it, and return to their shelter for the night. Many ERV drivers work 14 hour days. An a Cambro full of food weighs around 50 lbs, so they do some heavy lifting. They are some of my heroes.
Other Red Cross workers go into the damaged neighborhoods to perform damage assessment. The Red Cross has several categories for describing damage. The first two are "completely destroyed" and "severe damage". The mobile home in this picture is "completely destroyed." The damage assessment teams cover every street in every neighborhood affected by a hurricane, and collect reports on specific addresses. Our operation for Gustav is one of the first to use handheld electronic devices (like Palm Pilots) to collect this information, speeding the download into out computer systems. Unfortunately, we did not have enough devices for all the workers needed here, so some areas were still covered by paper reports.

Still other Red Cross workers offer small financial support to families whose homes have been seriously damaged. These client assistance workers meet with the families where they can find them, often in shelters, and connect the families with the damage reports.

(All photos by Gene Daley, American Red Cross)