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A Story of Her Own
A Red Cross volunteer faces disaster from "the other side of the fence"
Ike Pigott, Special to RedCross.org
Monday, April 10, 2006 — The view from Phoebe Cantrell’s front porch had not changed much in her lifetime. For as long as she could remember, the same shade trees provided shelter from the sun for her family and the neighbors who often gathered at her Goodlettsville, Tenn., home. Several generations of her family hail from there – more than a century on the same patch of earth.
For more than nine weeks, American Red Cross volunteer Phoebe Cantrell (right) helped more than 60 Hurricane Katrina evacuees, listening to their experiences and offering comfort. Last Friday, when a tornado struck her life-long homestead in Goodlettsville, Tenn., Cantrell went from disaster volunteer to survivor in just a few chilling minutes.
(Photo Credit: Marty Robey/American Red Cross)
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While last Friday looked ordinary in so many ways, it was the sound that got Cantrell’s attention.
“I very rarely hear the sirens from our property,” she said. “So when I heard them the other day, I knew we’d have to do something.”
Cantrell shared her story with the American Red Cross while waiting in line for emergency services.
The tornadoes that swept across north-central Tennessee killed a dozen people and left hundreds of homes in ruins. The process of recovery is now underway for Cantrell and all of her relatives. It’s a process she knows well, having recently spent time on the other side.
The Crier
For nine weeks, Cantrell made life a little easier for 62 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Nashville. She worked the overnight shift at the Crievewood Baptist Church shelter so that she could maintain her day job as a home health care associate for a local hospice organization.
“I’ve always had a high regard for the Red Cross,” she said. “But, when I became a volunteer, I didn’t know if I could do it. It was rewarding – even though I was working for nothing – because it seemed like every day I made a million dollars.”
Cantrell said that she started on overnights because that was the available shift, but grew to prefer it. She used the time to get to know the clients, and talked with them at length about their post-landfall experiences. Many times, those shared stories triggered within Cantrell floods of emotions and streams of tears. In 63 days, she touched 62 souls, who collectively referred to her as “The Crier.”
Cantrell claims “I could name them all if I had to.”
Story number 63
“It sounded like a jet engine was right outside – it felt like the Wizard of Oz,” she said. “Like if I was standing outside, I’d see the house spinning.”
Within a matter of minutes after Cantrell retreated to her home, a tornado turned her community upside down, depositing debris that used to be homes everywhere and littering the ground with street signs.
(Photo Credit: Marty Robey/American Red Cross)
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Instead, it was the rest of the neighborhood that turned inside out and upside down. Street signs littered the ground, along with walls and roofs.
“I did not know where my house was going to be. I never would have imagined that my house would have stayed in the same spot. The fireman told me that, based on the way the trees fell, the tornado went completely around my house.”
When the sounds died down, Cantrell tried going out for a look. Her door was blocked by a tree-trunk so thick that three men couldn’t wrap their arms around it. So went to the back door, facing the original family home.
The house Cantrell grew up in was cut cleanly in half. The original family home literally disappeared, except for a double-mattress-sized section of wall and the concrete steps that led to the front door.
(Photo Credit: Marty Robey/American Red Cross)
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The two oldest structures on the family homestead met different ends. The house Cantrell grew up in was cut cleanly in half. The other literally disappeared, except for a double-mattress-sized section of wall and the concrete steps that led to the front door. That’s the same door Cantrell’s brother walked through just ten minutes before the storm, safely on his way to work.
Amid all the uncertainty and chaos, Cantrell told her neighbors that help would be on the way.
“When I saw the Red Cross pull up, I knew we were in good hands”
The Path Less Traveled
It’s common for Red Cross clients to want to give back by becoming volunteers, but this was a case of one reaping what one sows.
“Now that I’m on the other side of the fence, I am in awe of the American Red Cross, because they treated our whole community like they were family,” Cantrell said.
In her previous Red Cross experience, the closest she came to the power of nature was the stories she heard back in Crestwood Hall. Now that she’s seen up close what Mother Nature can do, she’s being pulled by a more powerful force: the urge to help.
“If they called and asked me tomorrow to go, I would go,” Cantrell said without hesitation.
“The fireman told me that, based on the way the trees fell, the tornado went completely around my house,” said Phoebe Cantrell, who was raised on the same plot of land in Goodlettsville, Tenn., just a stone’s throw from her own home.
(Photo Credit: Marty Robey/American Red Cross)
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She and her extended family have a lot of cleaning up to do before she can go out on her first remote disaster assignment. Every person has their own time and way to recover. Cantrell survives by looking at the future they will build together – a future rooted in the family’s past.
“All my trees are gone – but that’s okay. When we return, my neighbors and I will plant new trees, and it will be our kids that can enjoy the shade again one day.”
Ike Pigott is the Red Cross chapter communicator in Birmingham, Ala., and a member of its Rapid Response team. A 16-year broadcasting veteran, Pigott won an Emmy for news writing and a number of Associated Press awards for his reporting and feature work. Marty Robey works in Public Affairs with the Central Iowa Chapter of the Red Cross.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Story was updated April 11, 2006, to correct the name of the shelter at which Cantrell volunteered after Hurricane Katrina.
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.
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