By:Wakens Leonard
The following is a four-day diary entry of a Lions’ Pride staff member who traveled to Key West, days after Hurricane Irma passed, as a volunteer for the Red Cross. The diary details his experience while volunteering there.
Wednesday 9-13-17
I took the three and half hour drive to Palm Beach County with the intention of volunteering for the Red Cross. Before the drive, I got an email requesting assistance in many different areas, and many different departments from my Red Cross chapter. On the drive down south, I came upon many flooded roads, trees that were intrusive to the roadway, and heavy traffic as the influx of Floridians were making it back home. This extended my drive about 40 minutes, but I realized that I have a pretty good Spotify playlist as I lip synced most of the drive home. Passing motorists probably knew I was having a good time in my “bubble on wheels.”
Once in Palm Beach, I realized that the area suffered less damage than I thought. There was the occasional uprooted palm tree or downed power line, but that’s about it. I got home, and there wasn’t any power at home, I knew that from the get-go though. I ate a meal with my sister, saw a movie, got back home and took a well-needed rest.
Thursday 9-14-17
I woke up at 8:00 a.m., sweating due to lack of air conditioning. I got ready and drove over to the Red Cross in West Palm Beach. The Palm Beach headquarters is in charge of most of South Florida; so, we had millions of residents to provide for. I was asked to be a driver, and our job was to get materials to shelters and other impacted areas in a safe, quick manner. My first job was to assist with grabbing a couple of hundred comfort bags; these bags contain basic hygiene supplies to be given out at our shelters. We also needed to grab over 2,000 clamshell takeout containers. These were to be used to stock up our Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs). Our ERVs are essentially mobile kitchens that go to impacted areas and give out hot meals.
Once that task was completed, I was assigned to go to Sam’s Club with two other volunteers to purchase over 1,300 pieces of breakfast that needed to be delivered to shelters that ran out. Here’s the catch: they needed the breakfast for the next morning, and it was already nearly 4:00 p.m. So, we split the tasks. I got the actual food, someone got drinks, and the last person got pastries. I grabbed foods ranging from pop tarts, to breakfast bars, apples, and oranges, and the list goes on! It was 7:30 p.m. when we finished loading into different Red Cross cars; I got lucky and was tasked with the Fort Pierce route, which was a little under an hour north. Once I made the delivery, the looks of joy on the faces of these residents were unforgettable. “I’ve been eating PB&J the past week, Thank You so much!” I made it home at about 10:00 p.m. Another volunteer had to travel to Sebring, which is two hours west of headquarters, making the delivery a total of four hours, and he got home around 1:00 a.m.
Friday 9-15-17
I woke up bright and early at 8:00 a.m. and the power was still nonexistent. My sister wanted to help; so, she tagged along for the ride. I went on over to headquarters for the next round of work. When we got there, we were told our ERVs were needed in Miami to feed residents without power; however, The ERVs needed to be restocked from their journeys yesterday. We had to clean out over 50 meal containers (about ten-gallon containers for scale). We loaded up the ERVs and sent them on their way. I should mention that one of the ERV’s was driven from California to Florida.
Next task of the day was to get a pallet of water delivered to Belle Glade (about 50 minutes away), as their shelter water supply was running low. My sister and I loaded up the truck, and she went off with another volunteer to deliver the waters. I had to stay behind because I had a Telethon later in the day. While she was out delivering water, I went over to the local news station to begin the telethon.
I took about 20 phone calls and together we all raised over 11,000 dollars. In one phone call I received, the guy I was speaking to wanted to donate 1,000 dollars. He refused to give any information but said he has to help his “backyard.”
Another guy called and said, “Thank God my home wasn’t affected… but I have to help those whose homes were”. He donated 500 dollars. I went back to headquarters, and I was told they needed me to go down to the Keys tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. and deliver some much-needed supplies before the residents come back. I told them “Of course!”
Saturday 9-16-17
I woke up at 3: 00 a.m. to get ready – still without power. My sister and I went over to headquarters to start our day. We got the trucks ready to go and headed down south to Miami. We were driving huge box trucks; so commute time took much longer than if we were to drive cars. We got to a warehouse in Miami that carried a ton of Red Cross supplies. My truck loaded up six pallets of water and two pallets of water. Each food pallet contained about 86 boxes of meals, and each box can feed 12 people.
We drove down to the Keys; only essential personnel were allowed down there, so it was filled with a lot of emergency service vehicles and Red Cross cars. A putrid stench filled the truck, while we were driving through the Keys. We learned that there was a sewage breach and during the whole drive down there we smelled nothing but sewage. I realized that a lot of people won’t have a place to go once they return because the houses had no roofs, were missing, or were flipped over. All the vegetation was dead, and Key Deer and endangered species were everywhere.
We had to make three stops, to drop off the supplies, unload the trucks, and talk to people who didn’t evacuate in the shelters about their experiences. A guy I met had his mobile home flip over while he was in it; another lady wasn’t able to find her home, even though she swore it was there when she left. Breaking down in tears, she was overwhelmed on what the next move should be. But we ensured she had a place to stay and food for her kids to eat – at least she didn’t have to worry about that. That is why I am an American National Red Cross Volunteer.
Helping people has been in my blood since I was born. From this experience, I learned that anyone has the power to help one another. Seeing the conditions that some of these people are living in helped me put mine into perspective. Here I was without electricity, while people are now homeless. Being a shoulder to lean on and having conversations with shelter residents, I got to learn more about their backgrounds which helped them forget about their current situations at the moment. Would I spend 20 hours helping people in need again? Most definitely.That is why I am an American National Red Cross Volunteer.
For more information on how to volunteer, contact Wakens Leonard at wakens.leonard@email.saintleo.edu.
