On Friday night, May 31st, 2008, I got the call. Really it was Saturday at 3:15 AM. I was so dead asleep that I picked up the phone and handed it over to my husband telling him that it was the neighbors canceling going to the lake for the weekend because it was raining so hard. He was planning on going with them to open their cottage for the summer. He handed it back telling me it was the American Red Cross. A tornado had hit the Eastside of Indianapolis and the Red Cross was circling its wagons. I am a disaster relief volunteer and have been trained to jump into action. Most of us who volunteer tend to become diversified and know how to do many jobs. I am trained for national and local disaster. In the case of Hurricane Katrina we set up a shelter in Indianapolis at the fairgrounds and brought people here. I worked that shelter. Those poor people were put on airplanes and brought here without some of them even knowing where Indianapolis was. They were scared to death going to the unknown. They were dirty and contaminated. They had no physical baggage but plenty of mental.

On this Saturday morning of June 1st I went to the chapter headquarters and met my Mobile Response Feeding Team buddies. One of our trucks worked the area east of 38th and Mitthoeffer (the apartments) and ours worked the houses west. We loaded and drove the canteen truck out to the site and passed out food, snacks, water, gloves, trash bags, tarps and information. We got out of the truck and hugged people who needed it. We listened as they talked. They told us they didn't want to leave because they knew their homes would be looted.

We went back and reloaded and did it all over again. For my part, I did this for five days. We got to know the people who came out to meet us as we gave them lunch and dinner. We were serving meals from wonderful partners such as McAlister's Deli on East Washington Street and Jonathon Byrd's Cafeteria in Greenwood. Other fine restaurants were getting meals to the shelters. We had to be back at Red Cross from our morning work by 3:00 to load up dinner and get it out there by 5:00. We would drive up and down the streets with a microphone telling them to come out for dinner. We had kids following us on bikes as if we were the popsickle truck. We gave them chips, cookies, crackers, pretzels and juice.

While all of this has been practiced and fine tuned for many years there was a new service being used for the very first time in Indianapolis.....the sheltering of pets. American Red Cross learned from Hurricane Katrina that people don't want to be separated from their pets and are reluctant to evacuate without them. Animals then were lost and separated from their owners. It is an area that needed a fix. What could be done? They can not come to the shelters where people are gathered. The animals are terrified, nervous and might bite. Some people are afraid of them or are allergic. There's no food for them. They might fight one another. The reasons are many. American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis, working with Scott Newman, the city's public safety director, teamed up with Indianapolis Animal Care and Control earlier in the year to have a plan. It was tested May 31st. Around 11:00 PM nine dogs and one cat were taken to a grassy area in front of the church shelter that was set up for people. I can only imagine how terrified they were after all the thunder and lightening not to mention the tornado. They had been driven together in a Red Cross truck by a volunteer. Scott Newman himself came and oversaw an ACC worker come and tag all the animals and fill out all the proper paperwork so they could be kenneled safely until their owners could come and get them. Visiting hours were permitted any time during ACC's hours of operation. It all went very smoothly for a first time disaster need.

I am so impressed by all of it. Shockingly impressed by the devastation I saw and favorably impressed by how everyone came together: volunteers, neighbors, construction and utility workers, restaurants and community services. Now if we can just get through round two with the flood cleanup. Bless all of you who donated to Red Cross. If you could only see it all at work. It warms your heart.