|
Choosing to Give on Thanksgiving
Jenny Hanzel & Ruth Davis, Special to Redcross.org
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 — BILOXI, Miss. – More than 350 American Red Cross workers – 90 percent of them volunteers – decided to spend Thanksgiving on assignment with the Red Cross disaster relief operation in Mississippi rather than return to home and family.
Workers gathered for Thanksgiving dinner at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the Naval Construction Battalion base in Gulfport.
“We have become each others’ families,” said Red Cross volunteer Joyce Walker-Tyson, on assignment in the Red Cross public affairs office. “There are many of us who feel this donation of time and service is the least we can do for the wonderful people here in Mississippi. We wish we could do more.”
Volunteers load meals into an emergency response vehicle for delivery to families along the Gulf Coast, Nov. 24, 2005. (Photo Credit: Pat Bonz/American Red Cross)
|
Most of the volunteers spent the day staffing the 52 emergency response vehicles that delivered some 13,500 Thanksgiving meals to hurricane survivors.
Since Hurricane Katrina hit, the Red Cross has opened and staffed 229 shelters in Mississippi serving more than 42,700 survivors and served more than 14 million meals and snacks. More than 20,000 Red Cross staff and volunteers have served in the state during the relief operation.
Most of the volunteers cited similar reasons for spending their holiday helping others. Ericka Sanders, a cosmetologist from Thomasville, N.C., gave up her holiday with her husband and two children “so that someone else could have a chance to enjoy the day.”
Bill Burger, serving on his second deployment out of Monticello, Fla., said that he plans to volunteer over the Christmas holiday as well.
“My spirit just would not allow me to do nothing,” Burger said.
Retired restaurateurs Tony and Shirley Roberson arrived from Blairsville, Ga., the day before Thanksgiving to work as volunteer cooks.
“My wife and I feel this is important,” Tony Roberson said. He nodded toward the group of 23 other volunteers from Blairsville and added, “we suppose these other people feel the same.”
Heather de Fehr came to Mississippi from San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Oct. 26 and plans to stay through Christmas before returning to school in January.
Walker-Tyson, a former newspaper reporter and editor and currently a public relations consultant in Muskegon, Mich., is a widow whose adult children have their own homes and families. She recalled the days when her children were growing up, and she’d work weekends and extra shifts in order to be able to take the holidays off to be with her family.
“Because I’m self-employed now and my family is all grown up, my schedule is very flexible at this point in my life,” Walker-Tyson said. “I’m glad I’m able to stay and give a break to those volunteers and other staff who have spouses and children waiting for them at home.”
Jenny Hanzel is a Special Events Coordinator for the American Red Cross Summit County Chapter in Ohio. Ruth Davis is a writer from Baltimore, Md. They have both been serving in the Red Cross Public Affairs Department in Biloxi, Miss.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
Related Links:
Related Content:
|
