volunteer

today my plan was to hang by the pool and bask in the sun, but yesterday at small group that plan changed. one of my friends mentioned her sister-in-law, who's a director at the red cross, needed help today. she didn't know exactly what we'd be doing but she just knew san diego was getting some evacuees from the hurricane and that more are on the way. i agreed to help.

this morning a group of nine of us showed up at the red cross and were put to work. the guys helped load a truck with supplies to open another shelter for more evacuees arriving later this week. some of us went to work making lunches for 80 evacuees and the volunteers at that shelter, and the staff at the red cross office who were taking hundreds of crisis calls. then a few of us went to the shelter and served lunch, then cleaned up all the foodservice and loaded it up to back to the red cross hq. as we were leaving the shelter we saw a huge plume of smoke that could only mean a wildfire. when we arrived back at the red cross hq, they were gathering people to go up to the fire command post and provide snacks and water and gatorade to the firefighters and other emergency folks working the fire. a couple of us went up for that. as day turned to evening and dinner time, more of our group brought up dinners for the firefighters. as the fire was brought under control, we were released. in addition to providing canteen services, the red cross also set up an emergency shelter for the 200 families evacuated from homes near the fire. it was a busy day.

but i'm sharing this more because i was needed...and you are too. if you have any time at all, your local red cross could use your help. with so many people being deployed to the disaster area along the gulf coast, local red cross chapters need more folks to help. if you have anytime at all, please visit the red cross onlne to connect with your local chapter and find out about the training classes and opportunities to help. i totally recommend this...it felt good to just care for my neighbors.