By Gordon Williams, Northwest Region Volunteer

When devastating wildfires impacted multiple communities in Hawaii, trained Red Cross disaster workers responded immediately, opening shelters to provide refuge from the fires. Within 24 hours, Red Cross volunteers from the Northwest Region raised their hands to help.

There were 20 local responders who had deployed to help by the end of the day on August 10 – six of them boots-on-the-ground and the rest virtual responders delivering Red Cross assistance while still back home in Washington. Since then, more volunteers have joined in on this disaster relief effort. More than two dozen Red Cross volunteers from the Northwest Region are now helping those impacted by Hawaii wildfires.

For the virtual responders, the prime mission is reunification – the critical function of reuniting families torn apart by a disaster. The American Red Cross has received more than 1,360 reunification information requests and has successfully completed more than 400 of those requests.

"Reunification is a key function for the Red Cross," says Carol Janssens, a Red Cross volunteer for 18 years and Mass Care Lead for the Red Cross Northwest Region. “People are worried about loved ones they can’t get in touch with.”

Red Cross workers have responded physically to disasters since the organization began in 1881. The responders who have traveled to Hawaii are joining other disaster workers from all over the country. Janssens says virtual deployment became a Red Cross response in 2017 when three devastating hurricanes hit the U.S. almost simultaneously, straining Red Cross resources. Using virtual responders added to the pool of workers assisting at disaster scenes by allowing volunteers who could not leave home to still contribute to the response. 

Patty Riley, a Red Cross volunteer since 2017, has a health issue that keeps her from responding physically. She was among the first to respond virtually to the Maui fires. Riley, Reunification Lead for the Northwest Region, has deployed virtually some 15 times since joining the Red Cross.

Riley says she usually does not respond during the summer, but Maui is close to her heart. She has a lot of relatives living in Hawaii – nieces and nephews, grown-ups and children. That made it personal for Riley. When the call came to deploy, she was quick to say yes.

Kathy Brasch has been a Red Cross volunteer for 21 years and has deployed 20 times, including a previous
response to Hawaii to assist in disaster relief efforts after a volcanic eruption. She is a specialist in mass care – sheltering and feeding clients at disaster scenes. If there is a drawback to virtual deployment in Brasch’s view, it is that responders don’t have face-to-face contact with clients. Making up for that is being able to help when it is needed the most. 

“I am glad I can help out even if I am not in a position to go there,” she says. “It’s great to be able to do something for people who need it.”

Red Cross Reunification lives by the telephone. The process begins with a phone call to 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) – a call center staffed by contract workers. The call center collects basic data about the missing person and enters it into a database called RC Respond. Reunification Team responders take that basic data and try to learn as much about the missing person as they can.

Janssens says the Hawaii fires produced more than 1,000 calls in the call center's first full day in operation. “The number keeps going up,” she says. “As our staff builds up, we will be able to handle more calls.”

Not all inquiries to the call center involve missing persons. Some calls involve people in need of mental health or spiritual care. Some involve people with disabilities needing special care. Janssens says reunification gets top priority for responders since there is no way to provide specialized care until the person who needs the care is located.

Red Cross volunteers who work on reunification get lots of specialized training in reuniting families. Brasch was up to date on most of her training but did need a quick brush up on the reunification software.

Thanks to their training and experience, Reunification Team members have a high success rate in bringing family members together. Responder Riley describes the sort of cases the team handles. In this example, the search was for newlyweds who had just married in Hawaii. “The groom was a Type 1 diabetic who needed his medication," Riley says. “It was important to find him in time.”

The team did find him in time – the sort of success that makes volunteering for reunification so gratifying.

Team members sign up for two weeks at a time of virtual deployment. Riley thinks the demands of the Maui fire could stretch that out. “And don’t forget that we are on the eve of what promises to be a very busy hurricane season,” she says. “We could still be working on the Hawaii fires when we have to start responding to who knows how many destructive hurricanes.”

YOU CAN HELP people affected by disasters like fires and countless other crises by making a gift to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767), or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

For those interested in helping people specifically affected by the Hawaii Wildfires, click here.