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People Helping People, The Human Side of Disasters
Washington September 18, 1999 - During any disaster in the United States, people always come together not only to help their neighbors but also to reach out to those in need. Here are some of their stories.
The
Salvation Army Arrives
A Big Moment with American Red Cross
Hot Showers and Good Food
Straightening Her Legs Again
Cash Donations are Helpful
Johnny Hughes learned from experience that generosity and kindness do a lot to help communities heal from disasters' tragic consequences. He is a canteen operator with the Salvation Army in Florida.
He felt "tired and blessed," he says, during Hurricane Floyd after serving 585 meals; 425 cups of coffee; 30 pounds each of apples, bananas and oranges; and 12 cases of soft drinks at a rest area outside Tallahassee. He estimates the total bill for the day was almost $700, including $300 for fruit, cereal and milk.
Because nearby hotels were filled with people fleeing the hurricane, the interstate was backed up 250 miles, forcing many people to sleep on the hoods of their cars and on picnic tables.
Enter Hughes. He arrived in his big mobile kitchen, which has a stove and refrigerator. The trapped people hadn't eaten in many hours. For breakfast they thankfully gobbled up the continental breakfasts he served. He handed out 10 gallons of milk and seven gallons of orange juice and cereal to the children. Lunch was a barbecue sandwich, baked beans and chips; dinner: chili, salad and fruit.
"They were a most appreciative bunch," he recalls. One family offered to help him and stayed all day to serve two meals with him. The six-year-old son became "my drink man," Hughes says. The youngster passed out the beverages. The mother, a bookkeeper at a credit union, and the father, a waiter, put food on the plates and passed them out.
The most touching moments of the day occurred later in the day. An Albanian family, which spoke poor English ("The only word the whole family knew was coffee") worked closely with Hughes. For a while he became their English teacher. To indicate his food wants, the little boy, speaking only his native language, pointed to bananas and popcorn. By the end of the day, he was asking in English for both.
"The whole day was a wonderful experience. I like to see people in need that I can help. I felt compassion. The Salvation Army's motto is 'Heart to God and Hand to Man.' I fulfilled the motto," Hughes concludes.
A
Big Moment with American Red Cross
The giving spirit certainly occurred during the Midwest floods in 1993. People in the idyllic college town of Fort Collins, Colorado, collected donated art objects, lawn furniture, typewriters, winter coats and books for three days at a church. Businesses donated storage space. Then American Red Cross (ARC) volunteers spent weeks marking and sorting the items.
"They were great dedicated volunteers," says ARC volunteer Vicki Jacobovitz. She and others raised $7,000 from the sale of the donated goods. At the conclusion of the citywide yard sale, they sent the money to the American Red Cross, which wrote vouchers for new clothes and furniture to help victims get back on their feet.
This event was one of her "biggest moments with the American Red Cross," Jacobovitz says. "It was a constructive way to donate. Even though we didn't see the end result, we felt good because we knew what we had done. We were sure the American Red Cross would put our money to the best use."
The generators the U.S. Army loaned the Southern Baptists for seven weeks during the Hurricane Andrew disaster in 1992 and the FEMA-donated refrigerators came in mighty handy.
The generators added to "our ability to prepare meals," says Mickey Caison, national disaster relief director with the Southern Baptists. "With the generators, 150 volunteers could lie down and rest. Without them, our volunteers would have had to sleep in tents and take cold showers. If we hadn't had the refrigerators from FEMA, food in that tropical climate would have spoiled in less than a couple of hours."
During the recent Oklahoma City tornado, the winds whipped a woman and her disabled Vietnam-veteran husband into the air, dumping them in a ditch. He covered them with cardboard and held her in his arms until she blew away. Landing a distance away, she broke her leg in three places after a heavy object fell on it.
Her house destroyed, a group got her an old trailer without a bathroom. It was so small she couldn't even straighten her legs. Something had to be done.
"We prayed for a tent. One came from Arkansas. We set it up with a couple of Army cots. Now she could sleep with extended legs once again," says Dianna Horn, case manager for tornado relief with Adventist Community Services in Oklahoma City.
"I'm a hugger by nature," Horn adds. "She was in shock and not talking. My hugs loosened her tongue and that helped her get better."
But she still needed a house. The Adventist Community Services stepped in again to arrange for lumbermen to donate material to build it and Volunteers in Missions and the Mennonite Disaster Service to provide the labor. Soon she and her husband will move into their three-bedroom, American Red Cross blueprint home.
Horn says, "We'll see to it that the grandkids can live with them too. Their mother lost custody of them when she was sent to prison on dope charges. The grandmother is so thankful she's almost been in tears many times."
Its clear people's generosity and kindness helps individuals and communities heal after disasters. One way everyone can help by supporting the 31-member National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) with financial contributions, ensuring a steady flow of important services to needy people.
The NVOAD web site includes a list of major disaster relief organizations involved in disaster preparedness, prevention, response and recovery in the United States. They recommend cash donations because voluntary agencies can then spend the money in the local disaster area, thus helping the local economy recover.
Also cash donations, rather than unsolicited donated goods, avoid the complicated, costly and time-consuming process of collecting, sorting, packing, transporting, unloading, resorting, storing, repackaging and distributing the goods.
Cash donations to voluntary agencies help meet people's needs more precisely as the voluntary agencies know better what the victims need or can provide what they need.
Updated: September 18, 1999