Wayne Cormier of Columbia spent two weeks as a Red Cross volunteer in Hurricane Rita-ravaged southwestern Louisiana.  He was a guest on WILI's Wayne Norman Show on January 10.  Cormier wrote this summary of his experiences:

What an interesting few weeks during October.  I arrived in Baton Rouge, LA on October 11^th to work with the Red Cross as a first time volunteer, and returned home October 29.  There are so many stories...

I was assigned as the kitchen manager for a kitchen (K-25) in South Lafayette, LA, working 14-20 hours a day as -- site coordinator, scheduler for ERV's (Emergency Response Vehicles) and their crews, ordered the food, listened to the concerns of the team members, liaison with the team from NC and the Baptist church where we were staying and tried to solve any problems/concerns that came up, vehicle dispatcher, wrote individual evaluations, tried to keep everyone happy, and probably some other things that I cannot think of at this time.  It was like juggling apples, bananas, oranges and every once in awhile someone thru in a watermelon.  I really enjoyed every moment and felt good that I had some skills that helped.  And I cannot adequately thank everyone assigned to K-25 that helped in my training and worked longer hours than I did.

We cannot say enough about the kind, wonderful people in the East Bayou Baptist Church congregation who gave up half of their Sunday school classrooms to give us a place to sleep, (East Bayou Baptist Church - 2234 Kaliste Saloom - Lafayette, LA  70508   Ministers : Ron, Andy Tribe, Rod Kirby, youth minister Jim Reid).  And the ladies and gentlemen from the North Carolina Men's Baptist Disaster Relief team were awesome.

We delivered two hot meals daily, prepared by the NC (volunteers).  These teams from NC had 25-35 individuals, and they switched out every 4 days.  They have their own equipment that could prepare up to 10,000 hot meals daily, per kitchen unit.  They were telling me that in Gulfport, MS, their kitchen (I think that they had a couple kitchens deployed there) served 23,000 meals in one day.

During my time at K-25, there were 25-34 Red Cross volunteers, changing out every day or two, after working in LA for 2-3 weeks.  We had nine ERV's with crews of three that delivered over 161,000 warm meals from September 27 when the kitchen opened until October 29.  We also served snacks, bottled water, clean up kits and any other items that were donated to the several communities from Cypremont to Pecan Island in the West and from Lafayette to Intracoastal City in the South.  We had a combined daily travel distance over 900 miles.  We also had two - 15 foot box trucks to use when an ERV broke down and to deliver clean-up kits when we received them.  K-25 should be closing by November 4.

Many of the people in the area we worked in are Cajun's.  As I learned they are a special breed of people -- not because I am a Canuk.  The biggest thing that we noticed was that Cajun's really did not want help or hot meals, because they felt that they were taking help and food from someone that needed it more than they did.  So many on the team related so many stories and events that confirmed this.

One day I went out to help serve meals with an ERV, and at a parking lot between Ester and Intracoastal City where a FEMA ice truck was located, we set up the ERV to give out some hot meals.  There was an 82 year old gentleman that was talking with us and did not want any food.  We got to talk with him and he finally took a glass of pink lemonade. He related to us that he and his wife lived alone and had no family in the area (we did not press him about his family).  They had lost everything, and the only thing remaining on their property was the concrete foundation blocks that their house was on (their home was a few miles from the gulf).  He did not volunteer where he was staying and we did not ask.  Dan, the ERV driver, finally convinced him that we had plenty of food, but he only wanted to take one meal and split it with his wife.  He finally agreed to take two meals, water and some snacks.  This is a story that was typical of the many throughout the area.

Also working in the area were Red Cross case workers, nurses, doctors, mental health workers, support staff, drivers, disaster evaluators and volunteers from other organizations.  When I left the area on the 27^th, there were still many people that had not been seen by anyone from FEMA.

Yes, donations made to the Red Cross are being well spent.  This has been the worst disaster that the Red Cross has ever responded to, having over 220,000 volunteers working in the different areas of Mississippi, Louisiana, & Texas for Hurricane Katrina/Rita -- including some that have returned 2 or 3 additional times.  There have been over 27 million hot meals served and 25.2 million snacks given out, in addition to over 1,100 shelters that were opened for 450,000 evacuees. 

I felt good that I had some skills that were of use to help with the Red Cross and those in need.  In the short time I was there I made some very close friends...and I met so many wonderful people.  This has been a good journey and Team K-25 did good.

The kitchen was nicknamed Bearville and the team leaders were Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear.  I arrived on October 11 and was trained by Mama Bear (aka Emily)...as it turned out I was trained by everyone -- Red Cross workers at Bearville (aka K-25), the East Bayou Baptist congregation, and those wonderful "Yellow Shirt" volunteers from NC.  I have learned so much about myself and the true meaning of team work and caring.  I left on October 29 and another awesome person moved into the position-- "Baby Bear" (aka Kelly)".

I have so much to thank everyone I worked with for!  I have never met so many wonderful people.  Yes, we came together in a devastating tragedy, but have so many warm memories that will remain with us forever. 

"Be safe, smile, and have a Hunky Dory Day"

Wayne