Volunteer set to go

Wasilla woman aiding effort by Red Cross

Sept. 4, 2005

MARK KELSEY\Frontiersman managing editor

While some residents watch news footage from the Gulf Coast and wonder how they can help, one Wasilla woman is on her way to the hurricane-ravaged area as a Red Cross volunteer.

According to Nancy Hall, from the local Red Cross chapter, Kristal Smith, 25, is one of about 10 Valley residents who will be deployed by the organization to the storm and flood zone to assist with the relief effort. It's people like Smith, Hall said, who help make the Red Cross effective.

"We depend on volunteers. That's the way we function," Hall said. "Without volunteers, we couldn't survive."

For Smith, a recent UAA grad, leaving the comforts of home for the hardships to come was a no-brainer.

"I just feel like it's right," she said. "I'm able to go, and it seems like the right thing to do."

Smith said her first stint as a Red Cross volunteer - helping out in New York City following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - changed her perspective. The experience led her to shift her academic path as a business major for a degree in human services.

"It's hard to put words to it," she said of her 9-11 experience. "It's very heartwarming to help people in need."

Smith said people who are unable to volunteer their time on-site can help in other ways, as the relief effort tends to the needs of hundreds of thousands left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.

She said she hopes people will keep storm victims in their thoughts and prayers.

"And if they're able right now to donate financially, that seems to be the best way to help," she added.

Red Cross officials concur. Hall noted that $7 million had been donated to the relief effort nationwide as of Friday morning. And she emphasized that 91 percent of that amount goes directly to victim assistance, while the remaining 9 percent is used to cover the expenses of volunteers like Smith, who will have to travel with their own water and dehydrated food.

Hall also provided insight into the apparent lack of Red Cross presence in New Orleans since the hurricane.

"New Orleans is not stable. That's not why we're not there," she said, referring to the widely publicized lack of security that has led to armed gangs roaming the streets of the city. "We don't want to put our volunteers in harm's way."

Kelly Hurd, a Red Cross community relations manager based in Anchorage, elaborated in a press release issued Friday.

"Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities, and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders," Hurd wrote. "The state Homeland Security Department had requested - and continues to request - that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."

Hurd noted that Red Cross volunteers are now meeting the needs of almost 93,000 displaced residents housed in 149 shelters.