Susan Warren and her family were attending a Friday evening Church service when the tornado sirens went off. It was Friday, April 22, 2011. Good Friday. But after the tornado hit, it felt like there was little good left in the day. 

 

When the storm passed, Susan grabbed her family and headed for her Ferguson home – the home that was so new, she could hardly recall the address – the home that she was so thankful to have given the tough economic times – the home that was now blocked by yellow caution tape and obstructed by fallen trees and downed power lines.

 

“All I could do was cry. It just makes everything you know so irrelevant and unimportant… Whatever I lost, I could get back. I had my life and nothing else mattered.” Susan recalled.

 

With that, Susan mustered her strength and took her family to the Maryland Heights Community Center where the Red Cross opened an emergency shelter. It was there where she found a safe place to sleep, a warm meal to eat, emotional support from volunteers and a few small comforts of home like a toothbrush, soap and hot shower.

 

Despite the comforts of the temporary residence, a shelter can’t replace the comfort, familiarity and routine of home. There are many people from different backgrounds, with different sleeping patterns and different attitudes, and for Susan, even more obstacles. While there, her daughter’s appendix burst, her granddaughter became ill, and Susan admits that she dealt with her own personal mood swings.    

 

But through it all, Susan just couldn’t help but feel thankful. “The crisis isn’t the story. It’s what you do in the crisis that tells the story… The attitude you have is more important.”

 

Unfortunately for Susan, this was an attitude she knew all too well. Crisis struck once before in January of 2009, when fire destroyed her then home.

 

“The Red Cross helped me then, and they’re helping me again now.”

 

In fact, it was the very same Red Cross worker that helped Susan after her house fire that provided support again following the tornado. In both instances, disaster caseworker Elaine Hegel helped Susan and her family out of the temporary shelter and equipped her with access to transitional shelter, clothing and food. Once out of the shelter and into a hotel, Susan returned to the Red Cross to share her thanks and her story.

 

“The Red Cross came in and gave us more than what we expected. The Red Cross came and saved the day. I’m so happy I can’t even…” Susan didn’t need to finish her thought. “A lot of us don’t have family to fall in their arms. The Red Cross shelter became that family.”

 

Not even a week had gone by and Susan felt like she was back on her feet and running again. “I’m ready to help somebody. When you help in times of disaster, it gives you focus…purpose.”

 

After Susan finished sharing her story with me, she said goodbye and thanks to a volunteer from the shelter. But this part of her story needed no words. Just a single warm embrace that gave us all a little more focus and a lot more purpose.

 

This holiday season, you can provide a "Full day of emergency shelter" for people like Susan Warren. For just $50, your donation can provide 3 meals, 2 blankets, 1 cot and personal supplies for one shelter resident.

 

Disaster victims often have to leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. But a Red Cross response always begins with a safe place to sleep, hot food and emotional support. You can provide these essentials for a victim for an entire day, including three meals, two blankets, one cot and personal supplies. A perfect gift for someone who has always been there for you.

 

 

Lindsey