Judi Harris didn’t know what to expect in her first deployment for a disaster in May. But after seeing and experiencing the ongoing American Red Cross response and relief effort in western Mississippi, which was devastated by a powerful tornado in March, she is already eyeing the next opportunity.

“I’ll definitely do it again,” said Harris, who is executive director of the Red Cross Mid-Michigan Chapter in Lansing. “It was physically demanding. We started at 8 a.m. and didn’t end until 8 p.m. I prefer that physical exhaustion. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

During her two-week deployment Harris drove an Emergency Response Vehicle, or ERV, which is the backbone of the Red Cross disaster relief delivery system and used in nearly every phase of disaster response including distributing hot meals and water to people impacted. Harris and her ERV partner from Pittsburgh delivered about 160 lunch and dinner meals a day.

Special compartments inside the vehicle keep the food hot prior to serving. Meals are prepared by local vendors as part of a disaster’s overall operations.

“There were a couple families who would come out and talk to us while we served,” Harris said. “They had such amazing attitudes that God was with them and would continue to take care of them. People were incredibly grateful for everything we were doing. They knew the people doing the food delivery were volunteers and so they appreciated the people who had left their family to volunteer to help.”

Harris was based in Greenville, about 50 miles north of the town of Rolling Fork where the tornado struck on March 24 and decimated everything in its path. Wind speeds measured up to 170 mph. She drove to Rolling Fork on her off day to survey the damage.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve worked in war zones,” said Harris, who served as a Red Cross health program coordinator in North Macedonia in the early 2000’s following the Kosovo conflict. “All these places that used to be houses were now just a foundation, after foundation, after foundation. This cute little town was completely demolished. That was incredible.”

Harris hopes to engage more volunteers to join the Red Cross to meet the challenges of future disasters. In the last 10 years, the number of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. has increased 70 percent.

“These disasters are so much bigger and are having such a larger impact on people than they ever had in the past,” Harris said.

Red Crossers like Harris take comfort knowing that their response and relief efforts are highly valued by the very people they are helping.

“On the last day, this one little girl made a little bracelet for me,” she said. “It was really sweet. We also received flowers for Mother’s Day.”

By David Olejarz, Regional Communications Director