The last week has been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to write. Let me fill you in on my experiences responding to Hurricane Gustav. One week ago, I entered a vacant Wal-Mart building in Baton Rouge, LA, to find it filled with Red Cross staff and volunteers. The building was converted to be a Red Cross headquarters for the Hurricane Gustav relief efforts. Inside, the Red Cross had set up its different relief groups—mass care, partner services, damage assessment and more—almost like a Wal-Mart has different departments. There were lots of maps and papers all along the walls filled with information about the disaster relief operation. There was also a section with cots for volunteers like me who traveled for nearly half a day and hundreds of miles to help.
 
The second day, I woke up early ready for my first assignment; I helped unload truckloads of food that were shipped in from far and wide. The food was then loaded onto giant mobile kitchens and transported to Kitchen 3, a huge staging area.
 
That night, we traveled to the staff shelter. The next day was our first day to help at Kitchen 3. It was located about an hour and a half from Baton Rouge. Essentially, the kitchen was the parking lot of a concert hall filled with five refrigerator trucks, six trucks filled with cans known as the pantry, and small tents set up for the site manager, meal preparations and a small meeting room. There were two trailers, a SYSCO and a Henry’s Kitchen trailer, that are commercial kitchens on wheels. At first it’s a little overwhelming to think of the amount of food we had to produce, but then the new collaboration between the Red Cross and American Culinary Federation helped put those feelings away. Four chefs from the Federation donated their time to help show Red Cross volunteers and staff how to cook large quantities of food. I never thought I would know how many beanie weenies are in 12,000 servings, now I do.
 
Fellow St. Louis relief worker, Angela Hakim, and I were one of the lucky ones who got to ride in the Emergency Response Vehicle to help distribute food. That means we got to drive a truck filled with meals into the affected areas and hand out food to people. We drove into areas that did not have electricity – people were so grateful.
 
Although there are many aspects to a relief operation, I think I like mass care so much because food is something that is universal—everyone has to eat. And when there’s a disaster, it doesn’t get more basic than this—well balanced, safe, good food!

 

Becky White

Red Cross Staff

St. Louis, MO