As most of you know, I am currently in Charleston, WV, helping with disaster relief efforts from Hurricane Sandy. I wanted to post tonight, because I feel as if the media has somewhat forgotten about the people of West Virginia. I know that all of you have seen the many devastating photos & clips from New York & New Jersey. I'm not trying to steal their thunder in any way. I just want the country to know that more people have been affected.
When I arrived in Charleston yesterday afternoon, I was expecting up to 3 feet of snow. That was not the case. Rain bands from Sandy had passed over & started washing away most of the snow. I was surprised to find that the hustle & bustle of city life had continued. I thought this meant that I had spent two days traveling for nothing. Boy, was I wrong!!
After entering the Red Cross Headquarters, I found out that people in 30 counties in West Virginia were without water & power. Some of the larger municipalities, like Charleston, had regained power soon after the snow storm had passed. The people that are mostly affected, live in the mountains & hollows. Some are unable to come down to even receive help because of impassable roads.
I came planning to work in a shelter, but that soon changed. Because I was one of the few volunteers with computer skills, I was asked to stay stationed at Headquarters & take on the role of Feeding Manager. I reluctantly accepted because of this being my first major disaster. Sure, I've had plenty of training, but you never know what you're dealing with until it's real. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck this morning when I arrived for my first day of work.
Feeding Managers are solely responsible for making sure that every shelter has enough food to feed the people that are staying there. In West Virginia, there are currently 51 shelters open & I'm responsible for each one. Today alone, we were able to send 12 Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) to some of the shelters with 9100 meals. One ERV, spent the day searching for people that had no way to a shelter & distributed almost 300 meals. I spent the entire day running in circles & feeling as if I had accomplished nothing. You can imagine my surprise when we started adding up the numbers late this afternoon.
Even though I hate being away from my dog, family & friends, I know that I am serving a great purpose here. Tomorrow, a Southern Baptist kitchen will be opened that has the capacity to serve up to 24,000 meals per day. On Sunday, an additional kitchen will open with a 10,000 meal capacity. The American Red Cross will be delivering these hot meals to the needy in 25 ERVs from all over the country.
I never thought that I would spend a Friday night blogging about something like this. I guess it's just part of growing up! Sometimes, you have to put the needs of others ahead of your own. In order to receive, you have to give.
What are you giving??
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