Unable to Just Stand By, Thousands Sign Up to Help

By Caitlin Liu

Sept. 2, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Forrest Walker watched the horrors of Hurricane Katrina on his television set and decided he couldn’t continue sitting at home.

So the Park La Brea software developer called a local American Red Cross office and asked to be sent to the Gulf Coast as a disaster-relief volunteer.

“A lot of people have been really good to me in my life,” said Walker, a 51-year-old independent contractor who said he canceled three jobs Thursday to volunteer for a month on the Gulf Coast at an emergency shelter. “It’s time to pay back.”

As aid money for hurricane victims poured in by the tens of millions, an increasing number of people like Walker are offering a helping hand.

“Volunteer efforts right now are sorely needed,” said Nick Samaniego, a spokesman for American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles. “It’s going to be a long-term relief effort. There’s pretty much something out there for everyone to do.”

More than 3,500 Red Cross volunteers, including about 400 from California, are in the Gulf Coast states now, setting up cots at emergency shelters, serving food, distributing dry clothing and counseling grieving victims. By Monday, the Red Cross expects to have more than 5,000 volunteers stationed in hurricane disaster areas.

The Salvation Army, which has collected a list of more than 6,500 volunteers from across the country, is working on a plan on how best to put their workers to use, said Kamara Sams, a spokeswoman. “It depends on what they need right now. It could be cleanup. It could be construction. We’ll know more in the next week or two.”

Some of those heading to the Gulf Coast are seasoned volunteers experienced in parachuting into a disaster area and performing aid work. Others are novices.

Jaime Rojas, a 32-year-old government consultant from Whittier, canceled his vacation to New York three days ago to be a Red Cross hurricane-relief volunteer. He committed to serve nine days.

“I can’t tell you why. It was just a gut thing. I have to go, to do whatever I can to help,” said Rojas, who has not yet been told of his destination or assignment but expects to leave in the next few days.

At the Red Cross office in the mid-Wilshire district, about 200 volunteers have enlisted in the last few days.

“We had people from the business community, law enforcement, nurses.... People from their 20s to their 50s or 60s,” said Red Cross disaster services supervisor Bonnita Wirth. “They’re so eager to go.”

At a volunteer orientation session Thursday, Wirth told two men and four women recruits -- among them, a nurse, a first-grade teacher, psychologists and Walker, the software developer -- to brace for the worst.

“You are going into one of the worst devastated areas in our nation’s history,” Wirth said. “You realize you are going into a hardship assignment.”

The volunteers were told there would be power outages, no running water, fetid air and extreme humidity. They should pack comfortable pants, closed-toe shoes, sunscreen and mosquito repellent. A tetanus shot is not required but highly recommended.

Expect to share a hotel room with other volunteers, or sleep at a shelter on a cot without a pillow.

“Don’t forget earplugs!” said Bob Buhrow, a 46-year-old licensed marriage and family therapist, who will fly out to Texas today to be a volunteer counselor at shelters there. As a volunteer crisis counselor last year in Alabama in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, Buhrow learned there could be snoring hotel roommates or noisy children at shelters.

To step up its volunteer recruitment, the Red Cross launched a “fast track” program this week to crunch the amount of training time to one day. Previously, most volunteers were required to commit to a minimum of three weeks. Now, the Red Cross is asking for nine days.

“We’re blessed to have what we have, and going out to help is something we all have the ability to do,” said Rojas, the volunteer. “You’re looking at cities that have become a Third World country. If it happened here, I hope people will take time to help us in a similar situation.”

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How to help

The following agencies are among those providing assistance to hurricane victims:

* American Red Cross, (800) HELP NOW [435-7669] English, (800) 257-7575 Spanish

* America’s Second Harvest, (800) 771-2303

* Adventist Community Services, (800) 381-7171

* Catholic Charities USA, (800) 919-9338

* Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, (800) 848-5818

* Church World Service, (800) 297-1516

* Convoy of Hope, (417) 823-8998

* Episcopal Church Center, (800) 344-7626

* Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (800) 638-3522