Tag Archives: Disaster Deployment

Bringing Comfort and Hope Through Spiritual Care from the American Red Cross 

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Reflections by Cindy Huge, American Red Cross Volunteer

I frequently think of you, Isaiah*, and feel grateful that our paths crossed.

On the evening of October 9, 2024, you were sitting alone on a cot in a hallway, with just one small bag holding the few belongings you had left. The shelter, filled with nearly 500 people displaced by Hurricane Milton, was too noisy for you to sleep. The Category 3 hurricane had just made landfall on Siesta Key, Florida.

I approached you, introduced myself, and invited you to have lunch with me. That simple invitation became the beginning of a meaningful connection.

American Red Cross volunteer Cindy Huge. Photo courtesy of Cindy Huge.
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You Don’t Have to Be a Chef to Feed a Community in Crisis 

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A wildfire near Santa Rosa, Calif. had forced more than 180,000 people to evacuate from their homes, and many would be looking for a place to stay. American Red Cross volunteers rushed to the Civic Center in San Rafael to open a shelter.    

Red Cross volunteer Anna Lane at the North Coast Emergency Food System Partnership meeting in Hopland, Calif.

Volunteer Anna Lane arrived to see that electricity had been cut for the entire county, although there were generators to provide power on site. She recalls, “The shelter manager said to me, ‘Anna, we need breakfast things, coffee and food, something.’ So I go to the grocery store, but the grocery stores are locked down because they have no power. They can’t open the doors.   

“I thought, ‘Where am I going to get stuff?’”  

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Resilience After Disasters

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By Executive Director of Central Valley Chapter Lori Wilson

Lori Wilson (L) with Mayor Camacho (R).

CORRECTION (July 31, 2026): An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Mayor Camacho of Saipan as former Mayor Carlos Camacho from Guam. The error has been corrected.

In July, I had the privilege of touring the island of Saipan with Mayor Camacho as an Elected Official Liaison (EOL), visiting families whose lives have been deeply affected by Typhoons Sinlaku and Bavi alongside him. As we went from home to home, we listened to their stories, learned about their most pressing needs and witnessed firsthand the remarkable resilience that continues to shine through despite so much loss and uncertainty.

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Gale Carli’s Journey to Saipan Revealed the Best of Humanity After Disaster

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When retired nurse Gale Carli from San Mateo County arrived in Saipan seven days after Super Typhoon Sinlaku devastated the U.S. territory in the western Pacific Ocean, the signs of destruction were impossible to miss. 

Red Cross volunteer Gale Carli in Saipan.

“The electricity was off, so driving was treacherous,” Carli recalled. “There were trees down, power poles down, lights down, and you could tell that something disastrous had happened.” 

Sinlaku, an exceptionally powerful Category 5-equivalent storm, blew through the Northern Mariana Islands in mid-April, unleashing catastrophic flooding and sustained winds approaching 180 miles per hour. The storm left the tourism-dependent island struggling to recover. Trees were stripped bare, roads were littered with debris, and much of the lush tropical landscape had turned brown after exposure to salt water. 

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A Quiet Presence After the Storm 

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In the aftermath of deadly Hurricane Helene in 2024, an American Red Cross volunteer noticed a boy sitting quietly in a shelter in Macon, Georgia. 

What began as a simple observation became something deeply meaningful. 

A Red Cross disaster mental health volunteer draws with a four-year-old staying at a shelter in Watsonville, Calif.

“There was a family that was in desperate need, and they had a child who they said didn’t talk to anyone,” recalls Disaster Mental Health Volunteer Leslie Grant. “And I said, ‘May I try talking with him?’ And I sat down on the floor. He was rolling a little car back and forth to himself. And I sat down about 10 feet away. And I just sat there. 

“And then I moved a little closer, and I slowly moved closer. And he rolled his car to me. And I introduced myself. And he rolled the car; we rolled it back and forth. 

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Laura’s Lesson from Alaska: Appreciating the Communities We Serve

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Laura (in purple) with other Red Cross volunteers who deployed to the same shelter in Anchorage. 

Being called to assist those whose lives have been upended by a natural disaster is not only an opportunity to provide aid and service. A deployment is also a unique opportunity for cultural exchange, and Laura Hovden’s deployment to Alaska in the wake of Typhoon Halong in October 2025 was a testament to that.  

Laura first got involved in local disaster management volunteer opportunities with the American Red Cross in 2014. Once her children left home for college, she left her own backyard to deploy to natural disasters across the country. She focused on organizing shelters during her initial deployments, but she soon secured more responsibilities as part of the Mass Care team that manages relief operations for larger natural disasters.

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