By Jim Merkel
South County Journal
November 14, 2007
This year, Jim and Sheila Ulbrich had to give up their annual Halloween party.
Instead, they received hugs from people who suddenly had sunk from plenty to poverty and the joy of helping people recover from disaster. Not to mention all the exercise Jim received from toting a wheelbarrow full of supplies to people’s cars 106 times in a day.
The two Oakville residents are among 14 people from the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, and nearly 7,000 from all 50 states, who came to Southern California recently to serve as relief workers in massive fires there.
The fires forced more than 500,000 people from their homes, causing the largest evacuation in the history of Southern California. Santa Ana winds gusting to more than 100 mph in some locations spread the fires.
Both retired, Jim, 63, and Sheila, 56, were kicking back and taking it easy when they felt the tug to help others by being disaster relief volunteers.
After seeing the need in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they started training as Red Cross disaster volunteers. Since then, they’ve answered calls at 2 a.m. during their “on call” week to help a local fire victim and assisted victims of flooding in Northwest Indiana in August and September.
Then last month, they received a recorded phone call. Could they be ready to leave within 24 hours to go to California to help victims of fires there?
On Oct. 24, they were off to San Diego to help people coming into Red Cross shelters and evacuation centers.
Soon, they were close to where the fires had been.
In one area, they drove down a road where on one side everything was burned and “on the other side, fences were affected but the houses were fine,” Sheila said.
At one place, Sheila talked to a man who was told he had about five minutes to leave his house. A short time later, “He was watching CNN News and he actually saw his house burning,” she said.
While many disasters affect people with little money, many of those affected by the fires were well to do. One person lost a house worth $7 million, Sheila said.
“Even the buildings that didn’t get destroyed were without electricity and water,” Sheila said.
One woman at a relief center said she lost everything and had been crying for five days, Sheila said. She started smiling after she was guided to a building where she received financial help to recover.
“She was so thrilled that the Red Cross was there,” Jim said.
People lost so much that they would go out to what was left of their house with sifters to see what they could recover. One woman found her original wedding ring set. Another person, a coin collector, found some coins from a collection.
Jim kept busy bring supplies to the vehicles of victims, but he didn’t know how busy he was. One afternoon, someone told him he’d counted him making 106 trips that day.
Back in St. Louis on Nov. 6, the Ulbrichs reflected on what they and the other Red Cross disaster relief workers did for the people of Southern California.
In 26 shelters and evacuation centers, 41 fixed feeding sites and 63 mobile feeding units, they served more than 1,155,000 meals and snacks. They distributed 10,867 clean-up kits and 22,000 comfort kits containing basic supplies.
“You met so many people. I wish I was rich. I’d just write ‘em out a check,” Sheila said. “We’ve been blessed that we retired early and we are physically able to help other people.”