By Bethany Bray Patterson

Hawaii resident, Pamela Harris, stayed in an American Red Cross shelter after she was displaced by the Maui wildfires last year. She knows firsthand what it’s like to rebuild a life after a heartbreaking disaster.

Fourteen months later, as back-to-back hurricanes hit the Southeastern United States, Harris knew she wanted to help others recover—as she has. She deployed to South Carolina with the Red Cross to serve on the team that is supporting people who are staying in shelters after being displaced by Helene.

“These people [in the shelters] are heavy on my heart right now,” says Harris. “I let them know they are not alone. I tell them ‘We are in this together’ and I will do my best to get them what they need [to recover].”

Many of the shelter residents have been knocked flat by the disaster and are in shock, says Jodi Naylor, Harris’ colleague on the Shelter Resident Transition (SRT) team. Some have lost their entire homes -- “they became homeless overnight,” Naylor says -- and are reeling from the loss. Rebuilding can feel like an impossible task.

That’s where Naylor, Harris and the SRT team come in. The team specializes in connecting those who are staying in Red Cross shelters with resources to strengthen their resiliency and help rebuild their lives and move forward, Naylor explains.

“We help find solutions. Our main focus is to stop people from sliding down after a disaster. We give them the means to get started again and get back on their way [to recovery],” says Naylor, who is deployed to Greenville from Minnesota to help with Hurricane Helene disaster relief. “We do as much as we can.”

Naylor says her team works to assess what each shelter resident needs and tailors their support to their individual situation. This may involve sitting with a resident and simply listening or serving as a sounding board as they problem solve and make plans, Harris says.

Long-term housing is the SRT team’s focus, but they also help to find resources for residents' medical needs, transportation, food insecurity and other challenges. Throughout the year, the Red Cross works to build relationships with local agencies and other nonprofit organizations so that when disaster strikes, they have a ready list of partners to call and collaborate with. 

In one case, it might be connecting a veteran who is staying in a shelter with a veteran's organization to find long-term housing assistance and a local support group. In another case, it could be working with the Red Cross health services team to provide a walker or other mobility aid that was lost when the client evacuated ahead of the storm.

After Helene, many of the shelter residents will return to their homes without food because they lost the entire contents of their fridge and freezer after extended power outages. The SRT team has been busy connecting shelter residents with food pantries and other long-term food support to help them restock, Naylor adds.

Harris and Naylor agree that volunteering with SRT is intense work – but equally rewarding. It takes empathy, compassion, creativity, patience and “a heart to help others,” Naylor says.

Recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton will be a long process, and the Red Cross will be there to support people impacted by these devastating storms in the weeks and months ahead. Volunteers are needed to help with this important work. Join us: RedCross.org/Volunteer