|
Red Cross Volunteer does Double Duty
Written by
Allan Crabtree
, Special to Redcross.org
Wednesday, October 05, 2005 — BATON ROUGE, La. – American Red Cross volunteers working on the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief effort expected to face difficult conditions and challenging assignments; they don't expect a new do.
When Red Cross volunteer Dan Guevare called out to his fellow volunteers at the Woodlawn Baptist Church staff shelter in Baton Rouge “Does anyone need a haircut?” he took everyone by surprise.
Volunteer Dan Guevare cuts Allen Crabtree’s hair at the Woodlawn Baptist Church staff shelter at the disaster operations headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 24, 2005.
(Photo Credit: Thomas Jacobson/American Red Cross) |
Guevare is assigned to Red Cross Client Services and works out of Headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., serving locations in the area where he processes and distributes Client Assistance Cards to Hurricane Katrina victims. There was no response to Guevare’s call from the group in the staff shelter.
“Really, I’ll give anyone that needs a haircut a trim, right here, right now!” he said, adding: “I even trim beards. What do you say?”
“I’m game,” I said. “I wasn’t able to get a haircut before I left home in Maine, and I’m starting to look a little shaggy.”
Guevare led me to a metal folding chair that he had set on the walkway outside the shelter, sat me down and cloaked me in a plastic barber’s sheet. Hurricane Rita was blowing through the Baton Rouge area making the sheet flap and billow.
“You’ll need to hold that down, I’m afraid,” said Guevare. “If we’re lucky I’ll be able to finish before the rains come again.”
He asked how I wanted my hair cut, and then pulled out a complete set of clippers, scissors and barber tools and started clipping away. Guevare is a new Red Cross volunteer from the Pomona Chapter in Los Angeles, Calif. He is a barber in his civilian life and wanted to help not only the victims of Hurricane Katrina but also his fellow Red Cross volunteers in any way he could.
He has been in Louisiana for a week and is enthusiastic about his Red Cross assignment, helping hurricane survivors get financial assistance.
“I really like working with the clients, and I think we are doing great things for them,” he said. “I’ve been going out with our four-person team to sites in the Baton Rouge area, meeting with families and helping them with their disaster assistance.”
To provide emergency financial assistance to Hurricane Katrina victims the Red Cross began offering emergency financial assistance in Louisiana for disaster-caused needs on September 11, 2005, through a hotline.
Without pausing in his clipping, he told me how his team had met with Katrina victims at financial assistance sites set up in partnership with local groups and community organizations, such as the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. These sites are intended to augment the hotline and to broaden the outreach of financial assistance.
“Yesterday we distributed cards worth $2 million to clients in the space of five hours,” he said with a grin. “I really feel we are helping these people get back on their feet, and it makes my work with Client Services very worthwhile.”
Guevare is a well-rounded Red Cross volunteer and is as enthusiastic about both his Client Services work and providing a needed service for his fellow volunteers. He does a good job in both areas, and I was very pleased with my trim. All my clipped hair blew conveniently away in the Hurricane Rita winds swirling around us. As I stood up Guevare shouted out “Does anyone else need a haircut?”
Allen Crabtree is a volunteer from the Southern Maine Chapter of the American Red Cross and lives in Sebago, Maine, where he is a writer, antiquarian book dealer, blueberry farmer, town Selectman, volunteer fire fighter and ambulance driver.
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:
|
