Tag Archives: Disaster Response

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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“Like Christmas” Every Day: Delivering Hope as a Red Cross Fulfillment Service Associate 

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According to Curt Leo, when you volunteer to be a Fulfillment Service Associate at the American Red Cross, everyone is happy to see you, everyday. 

Red Cross volunteer Curt Leo

“When you get to the shelter, it’s like Christmas for them. They love to see you!” says Curt, who volunteered for the fulfillment service associate role for the first time earlier this year, distributing essential items to shelters. 

And it’s no wonder they were happy to see Curt, because he arrived at the disaster shelters with an SUV packed full of supplies, including baby diapers, 20 lbs. of bananas, healthy snacks, breakfast foods, coffee and paper goods.   

Curt, who spends half the year in Sonoma County, Calif., and half the year in Sammamish, WA (a suburb of Seattle) has been a Red Cross volunteer for three-and-a-half years in various roles.  

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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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Five Shelters. One Week. Dozens of Amazing Red Cross Volunteers. 

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What a busy time for local American Red Cross shelter volunteers! Earlier this year, volunteers in Silicon Valley, Calif., had to set up not one, not two, but FIVE shelters in one week!  

Volunteers aced their test to get staff and supplies to a shelter site on time

It all started on February 26, when the volunteers underwent a test to see if they could set up three shelters simultaneously within a certain timeframe. They had to get enough staff and supplies to three locations to shelter 100 people at each for one night. This annual disaster simulation is part of a national campaign to ensure our communities are prepared for unexpected emergencies. The Silicon Valley volunteers did great and scored 95 percent and higher on all aspects of the test.  

Before they could even celebrate their accomplishment, two days later on February 28, a real emergency occurred. The Fire Department in Santa Clara urgently evacuated an apartment complex due to structural issues and it was deemed unsafe for occupancy. The Red Cross responded immediately and set up a shelter so residents didn’t have to sleep in their cars. 

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Earth Day, Then and Now: Finding Hope on the Frontlines of a Climate Crisis 

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By Dej Knuckey

On the first Earth Day in 1970, twenty million Americans gathered to protest pollution and industrial waste. No one was using the term “climate crisis” yet, but the biggest pollutants of all—greenhouse gases—were just beginning to take their toll. 

Since then, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 325 to 430 parts per million, a powerful measure of how much the climate has changed in just over five decades.  

Now we see the effects every day: The American Red Cross is responding to nearly twice as many large disasters as it did a decade ago. 

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