While the
COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate the headlines, other emergencies don’t
stop, and the American Red Cross remains focused on delivering our lifesaving
mission each day. This was demonstrated in early June, when Tropical Storm
Cristobal threatened the Gulf Coast of Texas. The Red Cross responded quickly with
disaster volunteers from around the country, including three responders from
Western New York.
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| Briana Freeman installing a smoke alarm as part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign |
Briana Freeman was one of these
volunteer responders. Briana—or Brie as she is known to her colleagues—is a proud Rochester native and a Regional
Preparedness Specialist at the West
Henrietta office, close to home. A graduate of Allegheny College in
Pennsylvania, Brie has been with the Red Cross for 18 months, including a year
serving the organization through AmeriCorps. Cristobal was her first national
deployment, and it was a big step. “Being
the first one, I probably overpacked a little bit,” she joked.
Brie’s deployment was a change from her
regular Red Cross work, which involves working
with and teaching alongside area partners to build community resiliency against
disasters. Her primary focus is on programs involving citizen
preparedness, home fire safety,
and the Pillowcase
Project for younger children. Brie loves interacting with so many different
people of different ages and backgrounds in the community, and hearing their
experiences. “I think that’s definitely the most fun part,” she said.
A major
deployment to a tropical storm 1500 miles from home is a very different
experience, however. Still, Brie jumped at the chance to help and arrived in
Houston, Texas on June 5, along with volunteers from around the country. Thanks
to COVID-19, however, this deployment was a new kind of experience for
volunteers new and old.
When
Brie first arrived for work at the local Red Cross headquarters, she had her
temperature taken and was required to wear a mask at all times. Social
distancing was required, so most of the interactions with her fellow volunteers
had to be virtual rather than physical. “That definitely was different to what
normally occurs,” she said. The restrictions made the volunteers’ task more challenging,
especially in terms of communicating effectively with each other, but they quickly
found ways to make it work.
Brie
also saw first-hand how rapidly the Red Cross can respond to the changing
situation on the ground. Two days into her deployment, when it seemed the storm
might make landfall further east, many of the volunteers quickly relocated to
Beaumont, Texas, near the Louisiana border. Working in operations, Brie helped
facilitate this sudden redeployment. “It was literally done with a couple of
hours’ notice,” she noted.
Fortunately,
Cristobal’s impact in Texas was less severe than predicted, and the Red Cross
did not need to open any shelters. Rather than just packing up and going home
right away, the volunteers pivoted to turning the experience into a trial run
for how to organize a major disaster deployment in the midst of COVID. “Even
though we didn’t actually have to open up any shelters, we acted like we did, and
used this as a learning experience because this is so different now from what
we normally do,” Brie said.
The
deployment also gave Brie an opportunity to work with some veteran volunteers,
and she had nothing but good things to say about them. “Everyone was very
welcoming,” she insisted, “and they want to do everything they can to teach you
as much as possible, and that was such a high point for me.” Although Brie’s
shift to operations required a steep learning curve, her two more experienced
colleagues quickly took her under their wing. “Although I was only there five
days, I felt like I learned easily two weeks to a month’s worth of stuff,” she
said.
Having
made it through her first deployment, Brie would happily do it all again. “It
was a wonderful learning experience that has helped me grow into a better staff
member, a better volunteer, and a better person,” she said.
The
experience has also made Brie more confident than ever of the organization’s
ability to keep doing its job effectively, even in the midst of a pandemic.
“The Red Cross, no matter what, is sticking to our mission of helping people in
all different situations,” she said, “and while we might be doing our mission a
little differently just now, we’re still one hundred percent behind the
mission.”
If
you’d like to help the Red Cross deliver its lifesaving mission nationwide
during this public health emergency, please donate at www.redcross.org. Right now, we have high
priority need for volunteers that are willing to work in a shelter if the need
arises during this hurricane/wildfire season. If you’d like to consider
becoming a volunteer, you can start your journey by filling out an online
application at www.redcross.org/volunteer.
Story by: Dougie Bicket,
American Red Cross Communications Volunteer
