The American Red Cross responds to a disaster every eight minutes, around the clock, 365 days a year. But our humanitarian work wouldn't be possible without our tireless volunteers, who constitute 97 percent of our total work force. Nearly 50,000 responded to the September 11 tragedy. Thousands still remain on the scene, and will remain there as long as there is a need.

Red Cross "everyday heroes" come from all walks of life and from all age groups. Everyone has something special to offer and everyone has an inspiring story to tell. There are many faces of service, and these are their stories.

A Life-Long Relief Worker Faces Her Greatest Challenge

Written by Christina Ward, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

Cheri Lundblad at Ground Zero in November 2001.

January 16, 2002 — For many Red Cross disaster relief volunteers, September 11 brought the most difficult assignments they had ever experienced. Cheri Lundblad was no exception. She has accepted two volunteer assignments related to the attack since September — first working at the Family Assistance Center (FAC) at Liberty State Park in New Jersey for three weeks, and then, shortly afterward, traveling to New York City to work at Ground Zero for three weeks. The Moretown, Vt., resident said they were some of the hardest weeks of her life.

Her time in and around the rubble of Ground Zero, especially, was a deeply emotional experience. "You feel a reverence in the area, knowing that many people are buried there. You also feel the sadness of both the families and the workers," she said. "I pray that I will never have to be asked to work at something so awful again — that our country will not have to face anything like it again."

Lundblad is no stranger to relief work. Although she has been a Red Cross volunteer just three years, she has been involved in relief work much of her adult life. A former EMT, she worked in the emergency room of two different hospitals and drove an ambulance. She was part of a group of volunteers who traveled to Montserrat in the Caribbean to help rebuild homes after Hurricane Hugo hit in September 1989, and she helped at a shelter in Canada after a severe ice storm several years later. She joined the disaster response team at her local Red Cross chapter (Central Vermont-New Hampshire Valley) in 1999 to increase her opportunities to do relief work.

While periodically assisting with local house fires and other emergencies, Lundblad fulfilled the training requirements to respond to national disasters. Her first assignment was in June 2001, when she helped victims of Tropical Storm Allison in Louisiana. She found the work greatly satisfying.

"Since I am a 'people person,' I enjoy the firsthand contact with the folks we are helping," Lundblad said. "I like the challenge of the work, the physicalness of it and the people." She got plenty of all three on her second and third national disaster assignments, in September and November.

Cheri Lundblad was assigned to drive a Red Cross emergency response vehicle on the night shift at Ground Zero.

"After helping grieving families for three weeks at the Family Assistance Center in New Jersey and resting up at home for two and a half weeks, my heart and soul were ready to go back on assignment," she said. She didn't realize what was in store for her when she arrived in New York City to join the Ground Zero relief team.

"At Red Cross headquarters, they assigned me to drive an ERV [emergency response vehicle] on the midnight-to-8:00 a.m. shift in Ground Zero." The night shift made her nervous, she admits. "I liked the idea that I would not have to deal with much traffic at those hours … but those hours!" Eventually, Lundblad came to like the night shift. "It gave me time to see New York City in the early hours, after I got off work, before the tourists started milling about. It was a peaceful time for me in the midst of a very emotional and physical experience."

She worked with a team that delivered meals to Red Cross respite centers, where Ground Zero workers ate, showered, slept and relaxed. Lundblad's team drove back and forth between the respite centers and a restaurant that prepared the hot food. Because Ground Zero workers labored around the clock, the Red Cross served hot meals 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Lundblad delivered meals to Red Cross respite centers, where Ground Zero workers came for food, showers and much-needed rest.

One of their routes took them alongside the rubble of the World Trade Center towers.

"I cannot fully describe what I saw the first time I went through there," Lundblad said. Her memory is of a jumbled mix of sights, sounds and smells. "Upright rubble, piles of rubble, fire trucks … many cranes, bucket loaders, trucks for hauling debris … smoke, fire … the smell … many, many people moving about … the bright lights illuminating the 16-acre site. This is what assaulted me on my first trip through."

In between ERV trips, she worked in the respite centers. There, she spoke to countless workers, listening to their stories from weeks of unimaginable work. She experienced moments of combined sadness and joy.

"It is heartbreaking to wake up a fireman and see him cuddling a teddy bear, or a fat, pink bunny," she recalled. Red Cross workers placed stuffed toys, along with cards from children, on each cot in the respite center "sleeping rooms" to make them seem more like home. "The animals were something to cling to, to give them a little nurturing, which they needed. Sometimes the firefighters, police or other workers would just collapse in any position on the chairs, because they were so tired."

Several times, she watched the "honor guard" line up in Ground Zero - an assembly of firefighters and police officers pausing from their work and preparing to stand in honor as a body was brought out of the rubble. She also saw firefighters run into the respite centers and wake their fellow firefighters to join the honor guard.

She visited the "Teddy Bear Memorial" on the west side of Ground Zero. "So many bears, and so many stories and notes written there in memory of loved ones," she said.

She remembers the day before Thanksgiving, when she noticed that even then — two and half months later — the fires were still burning in the rubble.

"And many, many times, I heard the bagpipes playing — and I knew that someone was in unbearable pain at that moment," she said.

"Sometimes, we just sat and listened to the stories that the workers wanted to share with us," Lundblad recalled.

As the days wore on, Lundblad grew more and more affected by the tragic nature of the work. But she forced herself to stay upbeat and positive, especially when helping the workers.

"I had to be stronger than the workers [emotionally] so that I could boost their spirits and make the respite center just that — a respite from what they faced in the 'pit.'"

Finally, Lundblad's Ground Zero assignment ended, and she returned home. The immense sadness of her experience descended on her, and she wondered if she would ever recover from what she had seen and heard.

She turned to a fellow Red Cross volunteer for help — a mental health worker who had worked with grieving victims at Ground Zero. Speaking with the counselor helped immensely, making her realize the rewards she had received from the assignment. Among them, she said, is a new admiration for a tough, unbreakable city. "I have fallen in love with New York City! I so much enjoyed my days off, and took advantage of the great city and what it has to offer. And I'll never forget the many kind words and actions by New Yorkers as we made our way to and from work."

Talking about her experience also reminded Lundblad why she is a disaster relief volunteer.

"Being an American Red Cross worker is an honor for me. I can serve my neighbors, and put their needs first, before my own needs. …Yes, sometimes it is real hard," she said. "But we learn and grow from hardship."

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