Impossible Not to Get Emotionally Involved, Says Volunteer Responder

Jamie Kendall has been with American Red Cross for a year, taking on the position of executive director of the Southeastern Coastal Georgia Chapter after working for seven years in fundraising and development for land conservation organizations.The Tennessee tornadoes are Jamie’s first emergency response and, prepared as she thought she was, the power of her experiences came as a surprise. “I didn’t think that I was going to be as emotionally involved as I was,” Jamie said.

“I realized there is really no way not to get emotionally involved,” said Jamie. “Going in, I thought that as a professional staff person I should not show my emotions, should not get involved. But I realized I’m human, and I have to be emotionally involved, and that’s okay. For me, the recovery will be in taking home and sharing the power of those experiences, for this truly tells the Red Cross story about we do.”

On a cold afternoon, six days after the disaster, Jamie and two other Red Cross public affairs colleagues on a photo and story reconnaissance pulled over to talk to a young red-haired woman searching the rubble of the cement-block foundation where her home had stood. She said she survived the tornado with bad cuts and lacerations probably because her husband of three months had thrown her into the bathtub and then covered her with his own body.

The young woman woke to see the family peering over her. Her husband was nowhere in sight. Rescuers pulled the rubble off her and got her to a hospital, after telling her that her husband was dead in the field. It was only later at the hospital she learned he was there too, alive but in a coma. That afternoon, she has left his bedside for the first time to return to the house.

“As we were listening to her, I broke down and cried at how raw the situation was,” said Jamie. “That’s the word I keep coming back to. Everything was so raw.”

Sharing what she’s seen and heard will be a big part of managing the emotional impact,” said Jamie. “I want to go back with personal experiences to tell the Red Cross story.”

She tells of another encounter that day that will be her “take-home message.”

Jamie recounts, “On the road, in one of the impacted areas, we stopped to talk with a homeowner named Jeff who survived the disaster with his wife and teenage daughter, but whose stone house, the first the family has owned, will probably have to be pulled down.

“I was astonished at what a positive attitude he had about the experience,” said Jamie. “Facing losing his home and possessions, he realized that those were not the things that were important. It was the lives and safety of this family members and neighbors that counted.

“And then Jeff gave me this story, which will be my take-home story. He told me that the day after the tornadoes, strangers kept showing and offering help. ‘I kept telling them that I didn’t need help, to go help my neighbors, like the widow street.’ Jeff said.”

After doing that for a day, said Jeff, a gentleman arrived who also asked what he could do to help.

“When I again told him to go help others, that I didn’t need help, he put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, and told me ‘son, don’t deny others their blessing.’ Then it hit me, yes I did need help, and it was important to allow others to give me that help.”

Recalling this, Jamie said, “Then it hit me as well, that this is what Red Cross is. It’s a blessing for me to help others. And that is the story I am going to take home to my neighbors and supporters about Red Cross. It’s renewed my belief in the mission of Red Cross, and I will be taking it with me into the next stressful assignment.”

Story contributed by Peter Seares, a veteran news service editor and volunteer with the Red Cross Green Mountain Chapter. Seares lives in Brattelboro, Vermont.