Volunteer Pete Basiliere hands out food during a disaster.
By Lafe Low, Red Cross Communications Volunteer
When disasters like hurricanes, floods and wildfires strike, American Red Cross volunteers from around the country are among the first to respond. These Red Cross teams bring support, compassion, and relief to communities and people that have suffered damage and loss. There are Red Cross volunteers ready and willing to spend two to three weeks, whether in their home state or across the country, helping people with food, shelter, and logistical support.
When disaster strikes, the Red Cross provides safe shelter, food, relief supplies, financial assistance and comfort. The Red Cross responds to about 65,000 disasters a year in the United States.
Boots on the Ground
While the Red Cross provides extensive and ongoing training for new and existing volunteers, there is no rigid training framework required to be able to deploy to a disaster site. “There’s no set, ‘You have to do this before you get deployed.’ At least that was my experience,” says Mary Morris. “I joined October of 2022. [Hurricane] Ian hit Florida in September, and in December I was deployed.”
When Mary first arrived in Florida, she worked as an ambassador. “We were supposed to greet people as they came in to get assistance. From there, the energy started flowing,” she says. After helping folks in the shelter, Mary was able to get out and perform some outreach. “We got to do boots on the ground, knocking on doors and saying, ‘How can we help you?’ That was cool because then you’re face to face with these folks.”
She did some on-site training while deployed, then continued her training upon her return. “The training is designed to be in steps. You start as a specialist, then an associate, then you can be a supervisor, and then a manager. The sky’s the limit,” she says. “You don’t know what you’re going to be great at.”
She did some on-site training while deployed, then continued her training upon her return. “The training is designed to be in steps. You start as a specialist, then an associate, then you can be a supervisor, and then a manager. The sky’s the limit,” she says. “You don’t know what you’re going to be great at.”
The option to deploy was what initially intrigued Peter Basiliere. “When they talked about disaster relief at home and deployments around the country, I said I’d be open to that,” he says.
One deployment activity Peter particularly enjoys is driving the ERVs (emergency response vehicles). “We deliver food and other supplies. We can actually plate meals that have been prepared elsewhere and carry them to the site,” he says.
Peter’s first deployment was in May of 2023 in Mississippi in the aftermath of a tornado. “I was doing a food route with the ERV and I would deliver lunches and dinners to people who were still in shelters.”
Rural Mississippi doesn’t have much in the way of housing in the best of times. “We were delivering these meals to people in hotel or motel rooms. That was one of most moving experiences. You’d see a single mother with three kids in motel room and they had been living there for weeks.” The disruption to their lives and losing their homes made a heavy impression on Peter.
Ruth Lathrop has been with the Red Cross for 10 years. During that time, she says she has deployed 23 times. She has been to Louisiana several times, also to Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Vermont, and most recently Canada.
“My first deployment was to Louisiana,” she says. “My kids laughed and asked me where I was going. I’m not sure. ‘When are you coming home?’ I’m not sure. ‘Where are you staying when you get there?’ I don’t know, but it’s an adventure and I’ll let you know once I figure it out.”
Most of Ruth’s work on her first deployment was serving meals. “We were serving meals out of the ERV,” she says. “We were serving them lunch and dinner every day for two weeks, so we got to know the people. One lady spoke no English, but she came out every day to get her meal and she would cry. And I would hop out of the ERV and give her a hug. I will never forget that first deployment.”
Ruth started out doing mostly damage assessment, then branched out to delivering meals, logistics, fulfillment, and delivering supplies. She recalls one of her supply delivery experiences. “I go in one morning and there are all these men there, and I’m just an old lady doing my thing,” she says. “The supervisor comes out and says we’ve got to put 10 cases of water in each of these ERVs. These guys are having their coffee, so I walk over, pick up case of water, and put it in the ERV. There was a guy standing there saying, ‘We can do this.’ And I said I can too. Let’s do this!”
Recent Experiences
Most recently, Peter Basiliere was deployed to Burns, Oregon, which had suffered devastating flooding. “Between the high volume of snow melt, the Sylvies River overflowed its banks,” he says. The river snakes through the high desert area around Burns, and when it overflowed, about 150 homes were damaged or destroyed.
On that deployment, Peter was tasked with shelter operations. “I was doing fulfillment work for the shelter,” he says. “I was helping ensure they had whatever supplies they needed. I would go by once or twice a day to see if they needed anything. I also helped out in the warehouse distributing cleaning materials, rakes, shovels, and all kinds of supplies.”
Mary Morris’s most recent deployment was in November of 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. “I got there and they said, ‘Hey, can you go be a supervisor for a shelter?’ I had a team of about six people, and I learned as I went. We were just kind of feeding off each other, which was great.”
Shortly thereafter, Mary moved over to a much larger shelter supported by FEMA, the National Guard, and state and local police. “That was the best thing—to see how their puzzle piece fit with our puzzle piece. Everyone just comes together,” she says. “It’s a well-oiled machine, even if doesn’t look it when you’re there. Once you get in that groove, you can see the clients starting to relax and get the services they need. You’re testing your skills and your strength and emotions, but it was great experience.”
Earlier this year, Ruth Lathrop was deployed to Canada following the extensive wildfires. “We were going to assist the Canadian Red Cross with sheltering, because indigenous people had to be evacuated from their townships,” she says.
It was a disturbing experience for those people. “They were staying in the Royal Canadian convention center. These people were totally out of their element” says Ruth. “We had one group that set up their cots and made a teepee. They wrapped Red Cross blankets around them. Then one night in the big dining room, they stood in a big circle and had their drums and were doing their chants. It was a real experience.”
The folks Mary, Peter, and Ruth encounter along the way—both Red Crossers and clients—are a major part of the experience. “You get to meet some amazing people,” says Mary. “And lo and behold, on the next deployment, some of them are there.”
Peter has also developed friendships with fellow Red Crossers. “I’ve started to see some of the same people [on deployment],” he says. “One Red Crosser I met in L.A. is retired police watch commander. When we were going around, he had a wealth of knowledge. A couple of times we had to find a place for lunch, and he said ‘Oh, we’re going here.’ He knew all the places to go, which was great.”
Peter and his friend from the L.A. police crossed paths on a later deployment. “This spring, there he was out in Burns, Oregon and he stayed with me.”
Community Spirit
Mary recounts how inspiring it is to see communities coming together in the aftermath of natural disasters. “I was in Mississippi a couple of years ago around easter after a tornado went through and flattened everything. We were managing a shelter in a Baptist church,” she says. “It ended up being a community center where people were donating materials and supplies and diapers and food. It was amazing.”
Since it was Easter, the community rallied and prepared Easter baskets for the kids. “The whole community came in and we had more than 400 easter baskets. We had no place to put them, so the pastor said put them in the baptismal. I was cracking up. It was overflowing with Easter baskets. These people had nothing, and they’re still coming together as a community, and when you see that and know you’re a part of that, there’s no better feeling.”
Making those connections is what truly drives Mary to deploy. “I love being face to face. I just love to sit down with folks and listen to their stories and help them with whatever resources we have,” she says.
One of the most meaningful moments Peter experienced during his L.A. deployment was the conversations he was able to have with displaced residents down on the Santa Monica pier. “They had set up these staging areas for residents who had been burned out of their home in Malibu and Palisades,” he says. “We were providing them with materials, so we had the opportunity to talk with some of the people affected by the fires.”
Peter recounts a couple of those conversations. “There was an older couple who had left for a doctor’s appointment down in L.A. They couldn’t get back to their house, so all they had left after all these years was what was in the car and on their person,” he explains. “There was another woman who said she had planned to downsize anyway. Within days after the fires, she had a such positive spirit.”
True Rewards
The reason Ruth continues to deploy to provide disaster relief efforts is fairly simple. “It comes back to the mission statement to alleviate human suffering,” she says. “Any time I can go someplace and help someone who has lost everything, I feel like I’ve made a difference in their life. That’s why I do it.”
Deployments can have a powerful impact. “Sometimes it makes me sad,” she says. “I was in Florida last fall after hurricane Milton. I was doing sheltering in Tampa. I was really upset coming home because I had a home to come back to. And the people I was leaving had nothing. They had no place to go. That one hit me hard.”
Ruth has had some other notable experiences on deployment as well. “I was in Bowling Green Kentucky this spring. I had my vest on, and this woman came over to me and said, ‘My mother would like to talk to you.’ [Her mother] starts telling me she had been rescued in a boat. While they had her in the boat, she had a stroke. They had to call and get an ambulance to bring her to hospital. When they released her from hospital, they told her you can’t go to a shelter. You can’t be sleeping on a cot. So, they were in this hotel, and they didn’t have money to pay any more, and had no place to go.”
That conversation set Ruth into action. “I went to staff services, told them the story, and the manager assured me they would take care of them. Then the next morning I got up and turned on the TV, and a story came up about woman who had been rescued, had a stroke, and the Red Cross was now helping her, and she’s in a safe place,” she says. “That’s why I go back. I made a difference in that woman’s life.”
Mary finds the experience of deploying to help people who have experienced some sort of natural disaster profoundly rewarding. “I just love it,” she says. “When you get deployed, you’re elevated and there’s this energy and you just don’t stop. It’s crazy.”
Peter has similar reasons as to why he is always eager to deploy. “As a young person, I was raised to help others,” he says. “It’s incredibly rewarding work. It’s an incredible testament to the approach Americans take to helping each other and our willingness to say you have a time of need and we’re here to help you.”
And the Red Cross also takes care of its own. “The Red Cross does not expect you to go there and spend your own money to do this. They take care of us,” says Ruth. “We take care of each other. We are helping them and they’re taking care of us too.”
And there is help beyond simple logistics for the volunteers themselves. “There’s lots of training and lots of support,” says Peter. “With the devastation and loss of life, it can become a burden. They check in to make sure you really are ok. There are people to help [us] work through the situation.”
For anyone interested in helping out in this way, Mary’s advice is to simply get started. “Get on to the web site and see what it’s all about and what we do. Talk to people who have done it.”
Our work depends on generous donors, who are as critical as ever to address people’s growing needs across the country. For disasters big and small, our volunteers provide comfort during what can be the worst days of people’s lives. Learn how you can volunteer or donate at redcross.org/nneholiday.
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