Hurricane Katrina marked the largest sheltering operation in Red Cross history. In the midst of the disaster, the Red Cross opened nearly 1,400 evacuation shelters in 27 states. Within five days of Katrina making landfall in the U.S., the Red Cross served nearly one million meals in a single day.
Hundreds of miles away from his home in Rochester, Herbert Wolfe watched the devastation and unwavering dedication of Red Cross volunteers in times of disaster. It was then that he embarked on a nearly 15-year journey as a Red Cross volunteer.
Over the years his roles have varied, but his support of the mission and the people he was called to assist remained unchanged. Mr. Wolfe started out as a general volunteer, dabbled in Shelter Management and Disaster Assessment until his most recent role as Leader for the Disaster Assessment Team (DA).
Reflecting on his service, Herb recounted many memorable moments but emphasized his love for deployments in Disaster Assessment.
“I got the most satisfaction working in DA. Being able to be on the ground collecting data and working with other Service delivery areas was always a challenge and rewarding,” Wolfe said. Referring to it as an “intelligence arm for the Red Cross,” this team gets deployed to a disaster to assess how big and how wide a disaster is, by going house to house and recording the damage on an app which the entire DA Team has access to in real time.
Upon asking Mr. Wolfe his proudest achievement, he didn’t hesitate.
“When we were able to set up a DA Core Team. The initial goal of this team was to train all our DA staff before they were deployed and to look at ways to improve the technology for DA. We had several very successful weekend training sessions that helped anyone from our area deploying," Herb said. "I cannot claim the credit for all this, as it would not have happened without the guidance and leadership of Sarah Perkins.”
This is Herb’s Red Cross Story. This Red Cross Month, we are proud to celebrate him and all of our volunteers who provide critical services to our community in times of need. Whether its joining our Disaster Action Team (DAT), volunteering at a local blood drive or taking on a virtual volunteer position in the age of COVID, volunteers like Herb make up 90% of the Red Cross workforce.
And as he embarks on a new journey, which includes volunteering at his local church food bank and plenty of “Grandpa Camp” this summer, he happily offered up some advice to new volunteers.
“There is always someone needing a helping hand. Have patience and be a little proactive when starting. Once you are trained in a specialty, you will then start to enjoy the feeling of being part of a great organization.”
A great organization thanks to volunteers like you, Mr. Wolfe.
On behalf of everyone at the American Red Cross, we wish you a long and healthy retirement. Enjoy your next adventure!
Story by Holly Gassler, American Red Cross
