“I’m going to Baton Rouge tomorrow. I’ve been selected for transportation slash warehousing. I’ll monitor all the rental cars that are taken by the caseworkers and staff workers. I’ll be putting all the rental contracts into the database, assign drivers to vehicles, put in all information on the car—color, license plates, who we got the car from, where they’re going—and as staff workers come in they process through me and that goes into the database. They  supposedly keep the car for the entire operation and they return the car to me to out process. I could be doing warehousing too. I will probably monitor the amount of supplies that we have, counting and making supplies ready for the Southern Baptists who cook a lot of our meals. Supplies go to shelters too. I’ll use a forklift to load the supplies into trailors that transfer supplies to the shelters.

“I started volunteering with Red Cross during Katrina working at the Houston Astrodome shelter with 20,000 people. And then they put me in charge of the nightshift databases so we could post all the Safe and Well registration forms and then we could reunite families. The place was so big that we used Jumbotrons to reconnect families with each other. That really felt good to help people find their family and friends. I keep volunteering with Red Cross because I really enjoy working with people--you see people so sad—when they’ve lost everything they owned. And when I can give them help and I can see a smile on their face when they walk away, I really love doing it. You can’t please everyone, but most everybody knows how good the Red Cross is and how we help people.

“I just got back from Dolly. I was deployed to San Antonio and stayed there in a staff shelter before the storm, then once we saw where the hardest hit areas were they moved us 250 miles south to Mercedes, TX where we established headquarters. The hurricane went through areas around Mercedes and that was where the biggest work needed to be done. I handled transportation there just like I’m getting ready to do for Baton Rouge. With this assignment, it sounds like I’ll be gone until September 25. I expect it’s going to be hot and humid and I’ll work 12 hour shifts—I don’t get too tired. I’m motivated and stay busy. I work and then I rest and I come back for the next day. My wife Donna stays home with the dogs. She works at the Air Force Base in Illinois. She’s a Disaster Action Team member with me in Fairview Heights, so she knows what I need to do. She said go ahead if you need to help with the hurricanes…we’ll be all right.”

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2 comments so far...

Re: Bob Whitlow - Baton Rouge, Lousiana Bob - You are an inspiration and Donna you are amazing for the work that you do and for being so supportive. Keep up the good Red Cross work you two! By Maika Thompson on   9/11/2008 7:28 AM

Re: Bob Whitlow - Baton Rouge, Lousiana How are things going? All the little ones are in my lap as I write this. They are wanting to be held alot this morning. We miss you. I'm on call today. Uncle David called and told me about an auction today in Marissa that has a lot of craft and quilting items. Oh well! luvya, donna By DW on   9/6/2008 6:46 AM