Volunteer Focuses on the Job Amid the Misery After Disaster Strikes

It was 6:30 Wednesday morning, and Red Cross volunteer Bill Alley showed up at the airport ready to step into a pocket of misery--again.

Last week the Carson resident had trudged through Louisiana bayou country, helping coordinate relief for victims of Hurricane Andrew.

On Wednesday he boarded a jet on the first leg of a trip to Kenya, where he will help coordinate the airlift of food and medicine for Somali famine victims.

“I’m glad to be on the road again,” said Alley, sipping coffee at Los Angeles International Airport, moments before his flight. “I was born with sand in my shoes.”

The shoes are well-worn, thanks to three years volunteering with the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross--a stint that has thrust him into crises ranging from the Los Angeles riots and the Landers earthquake to the Persian Gulf War and the food shortages in Russia.

At first, the 61-year-old former Marine Corps colonel and retired sheriff’s commander handled small-scale disasters, most typically helping Los Angeles-area families burned out of their homes. That’s the most common emergency for Red Cross workers in Los Angeles.

But eventually he worked his way up to a specially trained corps of 35 local volunteers, the Disaster Services Human Response team, which dispatches its members to emergencies outside Los Angeles and sometimes out of state.

Team members must be ready for early morning wake-up calls asking if they can visit the latest catastrophe, be it close to home or halfway around the world. Currently, Alley’s fellow Los Angeles volunteers are in Hawaii (Hurricane Iniki), Guam (Typhoon Omar), and Florida and Louisiana (Hurricane Andrew).

“We’re stretched pretty thin,” said Barbara Wilks of the Los Angeles chapter.

Alley barely settled in after his three-week trip to Louisiana when he got another call from the Red Cross. Could he spend some time in Africa doing logistics for the Somali airlift?

“All I know is that I have been accepted by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a delegate from the American Red Cross to work for six months as a relief logistics administrator,” a slightly befuddled Alley said the day before his departure.

He will learn more about the assignment after briefings in Washington and Geneva on his way to Kenya, but Alley said he’s prepared to face anything.

“A challenge is a challenge,” he said.

Dashing off at a moment’s notice may seem unusual to some. “My family thinks I’m wacko,” he said, but he is undeterred.

With his crew cut and broad chest, Alley still shows signs of the cocksure Marine and the confident cop. He served with the Marine Corps in Korea and Vietnam and was a reservist until two years ago.

He spent 28 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, retiring as commander of detectives and once heading the emergency operations bureau. He helped draft disaster preparation guidelines and coordinated drills for emergency agencies.

Alley finds it hard to explain what drove him to devote his life to public service.

“Everyone always asks me that. The only answer I have is that it’s the only thing I ever wanted to do,” he said.

The Red Cross relies on his organizational skills and unflappable attitude.

“He’s a very valuable member of our team because of his background in emergency services and his cool, calculating style of managing emergencies,” said Sharon Counselman-Keith, director of emergency services for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross. “He helps bring order out of chaos.”

Alley is careful not to glamorize his experiences with the Red Cross.

Although the term disaster worker may conjure up images of someone hammering together shelters or driving an ambulance, Alley spends most of his time tending to administrative duties.

He works telephones to ensure that emergency officials in disaster areas know where to go. He drives through wrecked areas assessing damage. He figures out how much food or shelter is needed and where the supplies will come from. He acts as a go-between among various government agencies and needy families.

During the spring riots in Los Angeles, he acted as a liaison between county emergency workers and military troops brought in to help quell the disturbances. When the troops needed sundries or food, Alley made sure they got it.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States last year, he toured the southeastern region of Turkmenistan, gathering information for the Red Cross on food needs.

In Saudi Arabia, with other Red Cross workers in Operation Desert Storm, he passed emergency messages from stateside families to soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf.

The hours can be long.

“You can work before dawn and until after midnight and you fall into bed at the end of the day not sure if a damn thing mattered, but at least you contributed to the people’s lives,” Alley said.

He sees people often at their worst, when they are at the end of their rope.

His longest assignment, three months, was in Desert Storm, where he sometimes had to play the role of counselor.

“You are there for soldiers who are cracking or are ready to crack and they need somebody to lean on or help over the rough spots or feel they need professional help,” Alley said.

In Louisiana, “we drove all day, stopping occasionally to talk to people, asking them what they need. We would get on the phone with multiple people and agencies, and you would just run around into the night and hope the problems get solved.

“By the end of the night you’re just exhausted and you wonder if you’re going to get up in the morning. Sometimes it is just grueling work,” he said.

More of that work awaits him in Africa.

More than 100,000 Somalis have already died of drought and warfare, and the United Nations estimates that another 2 million could die from starvation.

But Alley remains unfazed.

“I’m 61 and I’ve been in two wars. I’ve seen a lot of people in a lot of misery. The focus needs to be on what needs to get done to help the largest number of people. You are not going to be effective in serving the needs of the rest if the misery gets to you. Like you do when you’re a cop or in the military, you set the misery aside and focus on the job.”