By: Marita Salkowski

When disaster strikes, distance doesn’t matter to our volunteers. The volunteers from Central & Southern Ohio not only provide comfort and assistance to families facing emergencies here at home, but they also answer the call when communities far beyond our region need help.

In 2026, nearly 50 local volunteers deployed to South Carolina, Illinois, California, Georgia, Indiana, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington, Texas, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, bringing help and hope to people who’ve experienced life-altering disaster.

Twenty-five of our volunteers traveled to Guam after two catastrophic typhoons struck that region only 83 days apart. Super Typhoon Sinlaku hit the region on April 14, causing widespread damage. Then it happened again ─ Super Typhoon Bavi made landfall on July 6 as thousands of people were still living in tents or homes with tarps for roofs.

Typhoon Bavi slammed into Rota with sustained 180 mph winds, the strongest storm to ever hit the island. Damaging winds also affected Guam, Tinian and Saipan. Bavi forced many of these families to evacuate again and delayed any recovery they had planned.

Tracy Smart of Westerville was one of the disaster workers who made the long journey to Gaum following Typhoon Bavi. “The decision was made to stage us in Honolulu due to the airport closure in Guam,” said Smart. “I then had a flight to Guam scheduled for Monday from Honolulu, but after 6 hours at the airport, that flight was cancelled due to inoperative landing lights at the Guam airport.  When we finally got into Guam, I had to wait two more nights to get a flight to Saipan, my ultimate destination.”

The less than perfect travel conditions prepared Smart for the challenging conditions while in Saipan. Smart was among hundreds of volunteers from all over the United States who conducted damage assessments to identify needs of the people, managed and supported shelters in Guam, Saipan, Tinian and Rota, provided emergency supplies, health & mental health services and financial assistance.

“While on Guam, I volunteered to go out to do some initial damage surveys on the northern end Guam,” Smart said. “We were checking on residents and entering data for the response team to determine where to concentrate their efforts.”

In addition to the standard relief supplies nearly every disaster survivor needs, the Red Cross tailored support to the distinct needs, cultures and conditions of each island community.  Some of these additional supplies included coolers, tarps, solar lights, flashlights, hand sanitizer and wipes, bug repellent, mosquito nets, butane stoves, collapsible water jugs, sunscreen, first aid kits, portable showers, camping shower tents, soap, solar fans and meal kits related to the local culture.

“Once I reached Saipan, I joined together with the Logistics team to source and ship supplies to the shelters.  We supported three client shelters on Saipan, two client and one staff shelter on the island of Tinian, and two client and two staff shelters on the island of Rota.  I would review the daily requests, determine what items we had in the warehouse, and send our purchase teams out to by the items we did not have.  I would then pack all the items for the shipments to the island shelters for delivery to the terminal for air shipments,” said Smart. “I also helped the warehouse team break down numerous pallets of bulk material that arrived by boat and then repalletized for boat shipment to the island shelters.” 

Thousands of miles separated Smart from home --the mission was the same--to help people through some of their most difficult days. For families facing the unimaginable, the presence of a caring volunteer can be a powerful reminder that no matter how far away they may be, they are never alone.