Red Cross Volunteers are Changed Forever After Deploying to Hurricanes Helene and Milton

Red Cross responder reviews damage to a house on the west coast.

Red Cross responder reviews damage to a house in North Carolina.

November 04, 2024

It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Helene hit the Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, shortly followed by Hurricane Milton who also packed a major punch. The unprecedented damage done to this part of the country has had an indelible impact to so many people and changed their lives forever.

It has also touched the hearts of Red Cross responders all the way here on the west coast. More than 70 volunteers and staff members of the Cascades region (Oregon and SW Washington) packed their bags and traveled to the other side of the country. It has pulled at our heart strings and left us with memories we will never forget, and our work is not over.

We’d like to take this time to thank those who deployed to serve the Red Cross mission and came back to share their powerful stories. Volunteers like Kim Falk who was a shelter manager in Henderson, North Carolina.

Volunteer Kim Falk in Henderson, North Carolina.

“When I arrived, there were 91 people in the shelter and there was no internet or cell service. We had to do everything by paper and get supplies from the Walmart down the street. It was one of the tougher deployments I’ve been on,” says Falk.

But during all of this, Falk was able to connect with some great people and hear their amazing stories.

One person was an elderly lady named Miss Marlene. She lived in a rural area and flood waters took over her home. Her cell phone had died, she had no food or water, and her oxygen was getting low. She was stranded on her roof for three days.

“She thought, ‘this is it, I can either sit on this roof and die or slip into the water and drown.’” She started praying and then she heard the helicopters, and they rescued her,” says Falk.

One family couldn’t get out of their house. The mom and dad escaped with their 4 kids, all under the age of 12. That included a 3-month-old child that the mom had to carry over her head.

“They were great kids. I felt so bad for them. They lost all their toys and clothes and their home. Two nights later in the shelter, the dad started yelling, because the mom had seizures and died. Thankfully, the paramedics came in and revived her. During those moments, it was just so traumatic,” Falk remembers.

When asked if she’d do it again, Falk, who has deployed 8 times, replied, “I will go again in a heartbeat. It’s the least I can do for the people who’ve gone through this. Even if it’s just giving them breakfast in the morning. I was happy to do what I could.”

Volunteers Tom Reitter, Donda King and Joel King before deploying to the Southeast.

Donda King was another shelter worker who ran a shelter in North Carolina with 260 people. Her husband Joel King was deployed to South Carolina. Tom Reitter went to South Carolina for two weeks and worked in logistics. He spent his time gathering supplies for the shelters. It was hard when he first got there because roads were closed, communications systems down, and there were supply chain disruptions. He was touched by all the community members who wanted to get supplies for the people who homes were destroyed.

Alan Smith deployed to North Carolina to help set up shelters for those who were evacuated. He and his team were proud of the work they did to get the shelters ready.

“Our team was able to revisit this shelter several times during our deployment, and see our work put into full service for the evacuees,” says Smith.

The list goes on and on. Some volunteers, like Mia Scavone who deployed to Georgia and is even going back to do a second deployment in Florida to continue helping those affected.

Alan Smith (left) has a moment of levity with his team.

So, we send our thanks to these volunteers, and so many others who’ve gone to help in the wake of this devastation. It’s this kind of dedication to our work that keeps us going and inspires us all to put on the Red Cross vests. Learn more about our work by going to RedCross.org/Cascades.