Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, leaving behind destruction that forever changed families, neighborhoods and entire cities. It remains one of the most devastating disasters in our nation’s history, and marked the largest humanitarian response in American Red Cross history.
In the aftermath, nearly 250,000 Red Crossers, most of them volunteers, mobilized to open shelters in 31 states, provided 3.8 million overnight stays, served nearly 68 million meals, and delivered $1.5 billion in financial assistance to help 1.4 million families begin to rebuild. Yet the legacy of Katrina is not captured by numbers alone. It’s found in the human moments of care and connection.
We pause to remember the lives lost and communities forever changed. We honor the strength and resilience of survivors who rebuilt in the face of unimaginable devastation, and we recognize the compassion of those who stepped forward when help was needed most.
On the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, Doug McDonald sat with his wife Linda, watching the unfolding tragedy on television. The images were relentless: families stranded on bridges, desperate for water, food and help. One scene in particular stuck with him: people trapped on an overpass for hours with no relief in sight.
“I said to Linda, ‘How hard can it be to get water and food to those people?’” Doug recalled. That question, simple, urgent and human, became the spark that ignited a lifelong commitment to disaster response.
The very next morning, Doug walked into his local Red Cross chapter office in Shreveport, answering an urgent call for volunteers. He was quickly swept into the chaos of relief efforts, assigned to assist at a phone center where AT&T had set up 30 landlines. “You can imagine the number and types of calls we were receiving,” he said. The scale of need was staggering; eventually, 23,000 evacuees would be sheltered in northwest Louisiana.
After three days on the phone, Doug was asked to help set up a warehouse at a facility donated by a local flooring distributor. With little formal training and no prior Red Cross experience, he leaned on common sense and teamwork.
Volunteers Doug McDonald and Robert English while deployed to Florida in response to Hurricane Ian in 2022, serving on the Logistics and Fulfillment Team.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux thanked Red Cross volunteers, among them Doug McDonald, his wife Linda and his grandson Sam.
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish,” he said. “Most of the requests came over the phone, written on paper, and even some on paper napkins.”
Doug worked tirelessly from August through November, helping evacuees who had lost everything. His role went beyond logistics. He played a vital part in restoring a sense of comfort and dignity to families during an unimaginably difficult time. The donated items he helped organize weren’t just supplies; they became personal belongings, accumulated by residents over the weeks and months in shelters.
But it was a moment of unexpected kindness that left the deepest mark. One morning, a trailer arrived at the warehouse, packed with donated goods from a small community in South Carolina. Amid the boxes, volunteers found a large brown envelope filled with hand-drawn pictures from elementary school students, messages of hope, signed with love.
“After things slowed down, I sent a letter to the teacher and her students for the expression of hope,” he said. “It meant a lot and had been shared with many people.”
Today, Doug serves as the Logistics Lead for the entire Louisiana region. His motivation hasn’t wavered. “I think everyone has an inner desire to assist those that have had their lives impacted and upended by disasters,” he said.
He’s proud of the long-term volunteers who’ve stayed the course since Katrina. “They’ve been the glue,” Doug said. “You become committed to your volunteer team as much as to the desire to help others.”
Doug now serves as the Logistics Regional Program Lead, bringing his wealth of knowledge and leadership to disaster responses through the state and country. To date, he has deployed to more than 50 disasters, bringing hope to communities in this powerful behind-the-scenes role.
Doug McDonald didn’t just ask how hard it could be—he showed up, stayed and built a legacy of compassion that continues to ripple across Louisiana.
By: Shelby Wells
To Ed Bush, it hardly seems like 20 years have passed since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Ten stifling hot days in the battered Superdome along with 40,000 New Orleanians trapped without fresh air, left indelible marks.
After 30 years of military service, Col. Ed Bush retired from the Louisiana Army National Guard. Over the course of his career, Bush was deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of the Louisiana National Guard.
For Bush, who struggles to talk about his experience without getting choked up, there’s a reason Katrina remains the only response he’s been a part of that makes him cry.
“It’s the people,” said Bush, a major in the Louisiana National Guard when Katrina hit. “I’ve never seen people come together like they did for at least that first week in the Superdome.”
Bush, now regional disaster officer (RDO) for the American Red Cross Louisiana Region, had the unwieldy task of making sure critical information reached everyone in the Superdome. Crisis communication is hard, but it’s much harder in poor conditions and without tools. But with no other option, Bush simply took a bullhorn and began walking throughout the Superdome to maintain an open line of communication with people fighting to survive in dismal, worsening conditions.
Bush had a close-up view of the people and families reeling from shock. As a husband and father of three, seeing the families and children struggle was devastating, and he can remember faces to this day. But he also saw a community in action with people helping people, some assuming de facto roles as if they’d planned for it.
He vividly recalls a young man who was at first pushing a woman on a luggage cart before suddenly becoming a vital part of the critical care that was desperately needed.
“Suddenly he was on our team helping and bringing people to us and directing people to the medical tent to get rehydrated,” Bush said. “We put him to work and it spread. That’s almost identical to what we’re trying to do in the Red Cross.”
Outside New Orleans, things appeared much different. Fragmented communication, unsubstantiated claims and images without context fueled false narratives that persist today. Bush and his family lived in the city at the time, and it’s clear that he’s still affected by misguided anger and blame directed at his fellow denizens.
“People of New Orleans have been cheated out of being labeled as some of the strongest, tightest, most resilient people in this country,” he said, the words colored by both pride and disappointment.
That injustice to the people of New Orleans is a driving force behind his vision as RDO. “It troubles me to this day, and it’s a big part of why I’m with the Red Cross,” Bush said.
Ed Bush, regional disaster officer, with teammates Jenni Skipper (L) and CW Wider (R), senior community disaster program managers in Louisiana.
“He is that presence that makes you want to better and up your game,” Ed Bush said of Gen. Honore, commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, nationally-recognized military leader and Red Cross Board Member.
After retiring at the rank of Colonel in May 2020, he wasn’t done by any means, but he still hadn’t decided on his next move. It was Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, commander of the relief operation Joint Task Force Katrina, who planted the seeds for Bush’s next chapter.
Honoré asked if Bush would consider an Executive Director job with the Red Cross. After their meeting, Bush knew the Red Cross was indeed an ideal place he could continue doing the work.
Under the lieutenant general’s command, Bush worked tirelessly for ten days doing everything in his power to alleviate the suffering that enveloped the Superdome. Even in the abject conditions, he saw the remarkable power that comes from neighbors helping neighbors. With powerful storms increasing in strength and number, more disasters in Louisiana are a certainty. Bush said it’s essential that the Red Cross teams with local partners to determine what strategies they can employ independently when resources are strained.
From his ten days in the Dome, Bush knows what people can do in the face of incredible odds, and he’s optimistic that the relationships formed under blue skies will pay off in emergency situations. Familiarity is key.
“It’s going to require interaction and help from the community,” he said. “We’ll do a much better job of getting past our differences and seeing our similarities, embracing the moment and working together.”
Remarkably, Ed Bush remains fully engaged, two full decades after Hurricane Katrina.
“I think it’s an illness that I have that’s lingering from seeing what can happen when it goes awry,” Bush said. For Bush, the illness isn’t a wound, it’s a compass. And in Louisiana, he’s surrounded by others who still follow its pull.
By: Stephen Crawford
Friday night lights. That’s what Elizabeth Boh remembers most in the days before Hurricane Katrina changed everything. “We were just at a football game for my son,” she recalled. “It was a regular night. No one really knew what was coming.”
By Monday afternoon, New Orleans was drowning. Elizabeth Boh, then Chair of the Board of Directors for the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross, was watching her city, her neighbors, and her life unravel.
But even from afar, she stepped up.
When Katrina struck in August 2005, Elizabeth and her two teenage children had initially attempted to evacuate. But stalled traffic, rising panic and fear of running out of gas forced them to turn back. “We rode out the storm at home,” she said. “It wasn’t until the levees broke that things got bad. The water started rising two blocks away, it was six feet deep.”
Elizabeth Boh served on the Board of Directors for Southeast Louisiana Chapter for more than 10 years, serving as Board Chair during Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic impact. Photo courtesy of Ochsner Health.
Elizabeth’s home was spared. But their lives were still upended. With her children’s school underwater, she evacuated to Houston the next day, enrolled them in temporary schools, and began remote work with the Red Cross during one of the largest humanitarian responses in U.S. history.
She recalls the helplessness of being physically distant from the disaster response: “It was hard working for the Red Cross in New Orleans while I was in Houston. I felt hamstrung.” But her leadership never wavered.
As Board Chair, she became a critical liaison between the local chapter and the Red Cross national headquarters. She fielded panicked calls from on-the-ground leaders like Chapter Executive Kay Wilkins and relayed urgent supply and resource needs to teams in Washington D.C. “Kay is usually so cool under pressure,” Elizabeth said. “But I could hear it in her voice. This was really, really bad.”
Though her home was dry, her city was not. Elizabeth’s parents’ house flooded with six feet of water. They moved into her home while she and her children remained in Houston. “We couldn’t return until Country Day [School] reopened,” she said. “That was around Christmas.”
Returning home felt surreal. “Everything was brown. There wasn’t a hint of green. Just devastation.” And yet, she found hope in the smallest signs of recovery. “By Christmas, there were lights again. Stores opened. People started to come back.”
She asked her kids if they made friends in Houston. “They said, ‘Why would we? We’re going home.’ They missed New Orleans too much.”
Elizabeth’s connection to the Red Cross predates Katrina. She joined the Southeast Louisiana Board in the mid-1990s, eventually rising to Board Chair. But it was the storm, and the organization’s response, that deepened her resolve.
“What made me stay involved?” she said. “It’s simple. The Red Cross serves a need that no other organization in the country does. And sooner or later, we’re all faced with disaster. In that moment, you want someone like the Red Cross to be there for you.”
After her board service, Elizabeth became a Tiffany Circle member, joining a powerful network of philanthropic women who give transformational support to the Red Cross. She continued giving for over three decades and still does. Two decades after the storm, Elizabeth remains both proud and grateful: for her city’s resilience, for the Red Cross’s evolution and for the community that rallied together.
“Katrina changed everything,” she said. “But it also raised awareness of the Red Cross in a way I’ve never seen. People saw firsthand the importance of this work. It made us better.”
If there’s one message she hopes readers will take away, it’s this: “Don’t wait until disaster hits your doorstep. Support the Red Cross now because when it’s your time of need, you’ll want them there.”
By: Andy Martinez
For Hannah Furlan, the events of Hurricane Katrina are not just a distant memory—they are a part of her personal journey, one that took her from a terrified sixth grader in Chalmette, Louisiana, to a volunteer helping others through the American Red Cross. Two decades after her own family’s devastating loss, Hannah is giving back to the organization that helped her when she had nowhere else to turn.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and like many residents of Chalmette, Hannah’s family was forced to evacuate. At just 11 years old, she did not fully grasp the magnitude of the storm at first. “We’d been through hurricanes before, so we thought it would be just another storm we’d ride out,” she recalls. However, what started as a routine evacuation soon turned into a complete upheaval.
Hannah Furlan now serves her community as a Red Cross volunteer. "If I can help someone, even in a small way, it makes it all worth it,” she said.
The family fled to Covington, about 30 minutes north, but soon realized the devastation was far greater than anyone expected. “Our house flooded, and we couldn’t go back,” Hannah explains. The reality of the situation did not hit until they learned that Chalmette was destroyed.
During those dark days, the Red Cross was a constant source of support. With no electricity and limited food, Hannah’s family, along with dozens of extended relatives, relied on each other for survival. But it was the Red Cross that provided them with something more: hope.
“The Red Cross was out there handing out MREs and ice, offering food and support when we had nothing,” Hannah remembers. Even the simplest acts of kindness—asking people if they needed help, offering a warm meal—left a lasting impression.
“I still remember thinking how nice it was that these volunteers were giving their time to help people they did not even know. It was humbling.”
After evacuating, Hannah’s family spent months bouncing between homes, from Covington to Texas, before they finally returned to Louisiana to rebuild their lives. It took almost two years for the family to get back on their feet. Their home was gone, but their community remained.
“It was hard,” Hannah admits. “We didn’t have a home for a while, and I can’t even imagine what my parents went through. But they kept us going. We eventually settled back in Louisiana—just not in Chalmette. We started over, and somehow, things got better.”
Throughout the recovery process, Hannah did not just witness her family’s resilience—she saw the strength of her community and the power of people coming together in times of need. And in those moments of chaos and loss, she realized something important: helping others was what brought her family through the storm.
For years, Hannah had thought about volunteering but never had the chance. However, in 2023, an opportunity came that would allow her to give back in a meaningful way. At a conference, she heard a Red Cross representative speak about the need for volunteers and how the organization helps people during disasters.
"The more I thought about it, the more it felt like the right thing to do,” says Hannah. “The Red Cross was there for me when I needed it most, so I wanted to give back and do what I could for others who are going through tough times.”
With that, she began her journey as a Red Cross volunteer. After completing the necessary training, Hannah joined the ranks of volunteers, eager to contribute however she could. She was especially interested in disaster relief, the very thing that had impacted her family’s life all those years ago.
“It feels so surreal to be in this position, especially knowing what it’s like to be on the other side,” she reflects. “I’ve been through a disaster, so I can relate to what people are going through. If I can help someone, even in a small way, it makes it all worth it.”
Reflecting on the changes in disaster response over the past 20 years, Hannah believes that technology has improved the way the Red Cross handles disaster relief, from communication tools to tracking needs on the ground. However, despite all the advancements, she believes the human touch remains as crucial as ever.
“The technology is great, but what really made a difference for me and my family back then was the people, the volunteers who showed up to help,” she says. “It wasn’t just about handing out food and supplies; it was about the kindness, the reassurance, and knowing there was someone there who cared.”
For Hannah, volunteering with the Red Cross is about more than just providing relief; it’s about continuing the cycle of compassion that the organization started when her family needed help the most.
“The Red Cross helped me and my family get through a really tough time, and I want to be that person for someone else,” she says. “It’s all about paying it forward.”
With a heart full of gratitude and a passion for helping others, Hannah’s full-circle moment has only just begun.
By: Mariah Armstrong
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