When tornadoes touched down throughout multiple Arkansas communities, the American Red Cross immediately stepped in to help. Volunteers from across the country flew in to provide assistance to families who lost everything: opening shelters and providing vital resources like food and cleaning supplies. Among those volunteers serving the community was a group of young adults on an AmeriCorps disaster team.

“Our AmeriCorps focus team is called the disaster team because we all had an interest in responding to disaster,” said Tobias Kim, the food coordinator on the team. “It interested me because this allows you to build connections and have an impact that no other project will allow you to have.”

The team spent one week volunteering with the Red Cross, helping disaster survivors in their recovery. “We got sent out here to help out with whatever the Red Cross needed help to do,” said Rachael Grosser, the assistant team leader. In this case, the Red Cross needed help with sheltering as survivors were booked into hotels for temporary lodging.

“The experience has been really good, we’ve enjoyed all the work that we’ve been given,” said Tobias. That work consists of manning a table in the front lobby of one of the hotels in which those receiving Red Cross sheltering are staying, staying well-informed of the resources available to them, and providing snacks, meals or a listening ear when needed. “The Red Cross shelter is very well organized,” Tobias added. “There’s a list of procedures that you can follow for anything that arises and our supervisors are very communicative.”

In a word, Tobias describes the experience as ‘rewarding.’ “We’re building relationships with people which has been awesome, and we’ve been able to assist and help people get their needs fulfilled like medical supplies, snacks and water, connecting them with Red Cross recovery teams and other resources so it’s really been great,” he said. “I go home after this, to our hotel and I feel really good about what I’ve done during the day.”

The others echo that sentiment. “I’ve learned a lot of leadership skills, and I’ve met people I never would have met, said Dustin Baker, physical training coordinator on the AmeriCorps team.

The team typically works on a variety of projects over a 10-month period. However in this case, Assistant Team Leader Rachael Grosser was just assigned to the project in time to help with the Red Cross Disaster Response.

“I didn’t think I would be on a disaster project being in AmeriCorps,” she said. “I’m interested in becoming a social worker and I thought that AmeriCorps could kind of get me out of the box and challenge me in ways that I might be challenged as a social worker. But I’m actually really finding that, being on this disaster project, I’m gaining more of those social work skills because I’m connecting clients to resources and helping them in what is essentially the worst moments of their lives. So, it’s been really rewarding to help clients while also furthering my career skills.”

Though the AmeriCorps members will move on to another assignment, the help has been crucial for the Red Cross disaster efforts. It's through these types of partnerships that the Red Cross is able to thoroughly serve a community when disaster strikes, making sure to meet the disaster-related needs of every survivor.