From the WNIN Tristate Public Media Center in downtown Evansville.

I'm David James and this is Two Main Street.

The American Red Cross has had boots on the ground since 1881, responding to floods, fires and storms, major disasters affecting thousands like hurricanes.

Others as singular as a house fire and a displaced family.

Clara Barton, The founder of the American Red Cross, gained fame as the angel of the battlefield during the Civil War.

And later in life, she helped mobilize a network of caring individuals eager to answer the call when a neighbor or a stranger was in need.

Clara Barton was no stranger to the Evansville area, seeing firsthand the damage left behind by tornadoes and flooding in the late 1800s.

Clara Barton died in 1912.

She was 90 years old.

Barton's legacy lives on with the disaster response volunteers, many with bags packed, ready to leave the comfort of their homes to provide food, shelter and a helping hand to get the hurting back on their feet.

Here to tell us about the disaster response of the Red Cross and the local volunteers is Beth Sweeney, executive director of the American Red Cross of Southwest Indiana.

Beth, good to see you again.

And you're relatively new at this job.

You've had a lot on your plate in the past year with volunteers heading out to cover the tornado outbreak in western Kentucky.

The Dawson Springs area, of course, hard hit.

And just recently, the flooding in eastern Kentucky.

So you've been a busy gal.

Very busy.

Yes, I've been with the Red Cross for about six months now.

And I believe my second week we were dealing with the possibility of an ice storm here in Evansville.

And then things just slowly happened.

And now we're responding in eastern Kentucky.

So very busy.

And the Clara Barton connection to Evansville.

That's neat.

I loved hearing the history of Clara Barton and how she had actually been to Evansville, met with some people here, did some disaster work, and then talked about, you know, giving orders for some of those disasters in other parts of the country.

It’s pretty amazing to hear about the history of Clara here in Evansville.

And there's a plaque you said that mentions her?

Yes, at Deaconess Midtown.

I believe it was dedicated just a few years ago.

We actually have some really interesting artifacts of the Evansville Red Cross that show even a letter that she had written to the mayor of Evansville at that time.

So we're working on a display right in our front, when you walk in the door.

Nice.

To see, you know, Clara Barton's connection to the local Red Cross and some of the other artifacts just to share this story over the years.

Oh, that's great.

That's great.

Now, many of our listeners and viewers remember Beth Sweeney as a reporter and anchor at WFIE TV.

We worked together and you reminded me that the first big story you covered when you moved to Evansville was the 2005 tornado.

Yes, I started in late September of 2005, and I was still training.

I had been on the air a little bit doing some reporting, but had not officially started as the anchor of the morning show and then the November tornado hit.

And that was one of the biggest, obviously, stories that I covered from the very beginning.

And I'll never forget going out to the East Brook mobile home Park and being in Newburgh to to cover some of the families that had lost everything there.

And Red Cross volunteers were some of the first people that I saw.

You know, you always see them in their red vests, helping people and connecting.

And that was my initial connection to the Red Cross here.

I got to meet some of those volunteers.

We continued at 14 news doing a telethon and working with some of the volunteers to benefit the Red Cross.

So it was it was a full circle moment for me sixteen years later when this job became available.

And I actually interviewed for the position the day of the western Kentucky tornado, the day that the tornado hit.

But it was it was it was a good decision for me and my family.

And I feel like I'm in the right place working with some wonderful people.

And of course, we're mostly made up of volunteers and it's pretty incredible to see so many people give of their time.

The facts about this tornado back on November, November 6th, 2005, it was an F3 It was 41 miles, peak wind speed of 200 miles per hour.

It started north of Smithfield Mills and ended in Northern and Spencer County.

There were 25 fatalities and a lot of injuries and 500 homes, buildings destroyed or severely damaged.

And of course, the East Brook Mobile home Park was where most of the fatalities were located.

Now, we don't want to bury the lead here.

You have a new member of your family.

You want to tell us about that?

I do.

I have a ten month old daughter, Caroline.

So now I have an eight year old and a ten month old.

So life at home is very busy, but it's wonderful.

She is just the light of our lives and the the miracle baby we we didn't know was coming.

And we're so excited that she's here and she's blessed our family in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

So life is good.

Oliver has a little sister.

Yes.

And he's the best big brother.

Just.

Yeah, They're going to be the best of friends.

I know that.

Now, when you started your job here, you did some shadowing with the local volunteers, too.

To see what happens on the ground.

Yes.

I mean, just recently I went out with a couple of our disaster volunteers on house fires to respond to those.

So typically, once the house fire happens and fire investigators get on scene, they determine if a family can't live there, if they're going to be displaced from their home.

And that's when they call us.

So we have a 24 hour hotline that dispatches our disaster volunteers to those house fires or whatever disaster it may be.

We go to the scene, we talk with a family, we do a disaster assessment.

And if it is determined that they are displaced, that's where we come in with financial assistance right on the spot so we can give them between $500 and $600 to help with those initial expenses.

So if they need a place to stay, a motel room, clothes, food, if they need things like their prescription eyeglasses, replace because they lost them in the fire.

We have licensed health care professionals that can help with that to get their prescription medications replaced.

We also provide mental health care and spiritual care.

So we open a case with that family, give them that financial assistance, and then our caseworkers take it from there and they help that family rebuild, so to speak, to learn how to overcome this adversity that has happened in their life.

We connect them with other partnering agencies with the Red Cross and to help them with whatever they need to get back on their feet.

So it's not just an initial response.

It's a follow up.

Absolutely.

We continue to work with those families until they feel comfortable that they've got the help that they need, that they found a place to stay long term or temporarily until they rebuild or whatever their case may be, to make sure that their children are safe and cared for and that they have all those basic necessities met.

I think that's really important is the follow up, because if we're going to build resilience among families that have experienced something so traumatic, we have to be able to be there for them and provide the care that they need over the next weeks and months to come.

Well, what about that first experience?

It was very eye opening.

And I'll tell you, I went to two fires in the same day and the second fire that I went to, one of the homeowners said, Are you here to do a news story?

She thought that I was still still reporting.

And it was it was really interesting to get to talk to her about my new position and what the Red Cross does.

And when we handed her that $500 cash card and said, this is yours to take care of whatever you need, she immediately started crying and and just didn't expect that and didn't know that that's what the Red Cross did.

And that was so rewarding.

I walked away from that day and I remember calling my husband and saying, I'm in the right place.

You know this.

I have a new purpose in life in it.

And it's just been amazing to see what the Red Cross does on a daily basis.

And of course, as a reporter, we go cover these events and then walk away and go back to the station.

But this way you can actually help these people.

Yes, exactly.

That's a great feeling.

I'm sure it's a wonderful feeling.

But what's most rewarding is to see what our volunteers are doing.

I mean, they are on call a lot.

You can sign up for specific shifts that you want in specific areas that you want to volunteer.

But to see them, you know, not even flinch when they get a call.

They know that there is a family out there that is in need and they may be watching their entire life, you know, go up in flames or have been destroyed from a tornado or some type of severe weather event.

So it's it's just it's amazing and it speaks to the people of this community and what they do to help others.

Now, is there a profile of the typical volunteer?

Well, you know, when we're looking at disaster action team volunteers, this is a little bit of a heavier lift than some of our other volunteer opportunities.

So, you know, we have volunteers that cover outreach events.

We have blood ambassadors, but disaster volunteers.

We ask that they commit to about two 12 hour shifts a month at the least to be on call.

Now, that doesn't mean you're going to get a call within that 12 hours that you might be on call.

But it is a little bit of a heavier lift.

We want someone who's compassionate and who's a good listener who can be on the scene and give those hugs and comfort to the family immediately.

So that's really what we're looking for.

And we have a wide variety of disaster volunteers.

We're talking to Beth Sweeney.

She's the new executive director of the Red Cross of Southwest Indiana.

And what is your coverage area, Beth?

Well, I cover 24 counties, so we we cover several in Indiana.

We go all the way up to Terre Haute in Vigo County.

We also cover seven counties in Illinois and three in Kentucky.

So Henderson, Union and Webster.

So we we are all over the place.

So we're looking for disaster volunteers in all of those counties.

And we're going to meet to disaster response volunteers in a few moments.

Brian Southern and Don Francis.

And they're waiting in the wings to tell us about their experiences.

Now, these guys will tell us why they wanted to get involved.

So why are they so important to the Red Cross, these volunteers?

Well, we need those volunteers.

You know, the Red Cross has made a commitment to our communities that we will be there when disasters happen.

If families are displaced and they need our help, the Red Cross will respond.

So this is a this is a critical role and a critical part of our mission, which is part of, you know, what it was founded on with Clara Barton and being able to help people that may not be able to help themselves.

So we have to have those volunteers to be able to do what we do and carry out the mission.

So what attracted you to the Red Cross?

Well, you know, I've always had a soft spot since the November tornado in 2005.

And my connection there and learning about all that we do, I had no idea.

And still until I started researching the position, all of the different service lines and services that are offered to our community.

So in addition to disaster, of course, everybody knows the Red Cross for blood.

We we provide 40% of the nation's blood supply, but we also provide services to the armed forces, which is really what the Red Cross was founded on and why Clara Barton started it all.

So we continue to help military families, to help service members who were deployed.

And we are actually the neutral party between the military and those military families.

So let's say there's a death in the family back home of a deployed service member.

Then, we work with the military and the family to confirm that information and hopefully get that that leave of absence granted for that service member, which is pretty incredible when you think about it.

So we do that.

We provide deployment workshops, mental health care, those types of things for services to the armed forces, not to mention the life saving skills classes we do.

So CPR, AED classes we do lifeguard training, babysitter training, all of those things.

So it's really quite a variety and something for everybody if you want to volunteer.

It's interesting you mentioned the military connection.

I just interviewed Bill Young.

He was a former Marine and this is for the Vietnam Love Stories segment that I had.

And he said he was after he left Vietnam, he was sent to Guantanamo Bay as a as the marine attachment.

And while he was there, he was contacted by the Red Cross about the death of one of his buddies who served with the 101st Airborne Division.

And he was killed in Vietnam.

And they reached out to Bill Young in Cuba and arranged for him to be transferred with the body to the funeral in the United States.

Wow.

So the Red Cross is everywhere.

Oh, they are everywhere.

And, you know, we just celebrated our 80th anniversary of the Red Cross canteen that was established back during World War Two.

It was right along the railroad there on Fulton and second Ohio, kind of that area as a stop for soldiers that were heading along the railroad.

And it was it really became one of the famous stops.

It was a favorite of soldiers.

There are so many letters that soldiers wrote back to thank the people of that canteen that just provided a warm meal and care.

They- I remember reading one where a soldier said, you know, I was missing my mom and my my girlfriend so much back home and you all made me feel like I was home.

Even if it was just for an hour or two.

Just to have that comfort and support was was amazing.

So we love to hear those stories about the canteen.

They have a replica at the Evansville Wartime Museum of the Red Cross canteen.

Of course, that canteen also served soldiers from both races.

That's right.

World War Two.

Yes.

So the Red Cross canteen.

That's a great story in itself.

Now, you talk to the volunteers after they go out on these assignments.

What do you hear back from the volunteers when they come back from these disaster areas?

Well, you know, as a journalist, I'm always asking lots of questions when they come back in.

I want to hear those their stories, and I want to hear about who they've impacted.

I remember one just a few weeks ago, and you're going to be talking to Don Francis, one of our volunteers who responded to a house fire in Henderson with a single mom of seven children, I believe.

Ranging in a wide range of ages.

But to be there and to respond and to be able to provide assistance to her right off the bat, the story is just amazing because you just don't know what families are going through.

And then the caseworker that continue to follow up with that mom and we were able to provide some additional assistance.

But there there are so many stories of, you know, it's heartbreaking to see what people are dealing with, but to know that that someone is there for them and someone they can trust, like the Red Cross means so much.

I think it's interesting that, of course, you were a reporter covering these stories and now you are a newsmaker being interviewed about these stories.

What's that been like?

It's been very interesting, but I love being able to tell the red Cross story and there's so much history.

I got to go to Washington, D.C. and be there in the halls of the American Red Cross and and to see all of the history and the the quilts on the wall that were signed by, you know, famous people like Theodore Roosevelt.

And just to see the support over the years and hear about the Red Cross nurses and the Gray Ladies and all the people that have supported the Red Cross over the years, it's humbling to be a part of such a historical and impactful organization.

Now, we talked about when these volunteers show up at these scenes, they deal with the immediate need, and there's that follow up when the disaster is no longer the lead story.

And this goes on for, for months.

It certainly can, and it depends on what those needs are.

But, you know, with a western Kentucky tornado that happened in December, which is a different chapter from ours, but I had I had the pleasure of chatting with the executive director just a couple of weeks ago about what she learned from that experience.

And what they're doing now to continue the follow up there.

So the Red Cross raised a lot of money designated for western Kentucky and those families, the initial response has been taking care of.

We're looking at six months later and what's happening now.

So the remainder of that money that was donated is being used to help families and to help businesses and nonprofits get back on their feet and hopefully rebuild right there in Dawson Springs.

And Mayfield, Kentucky.

So that's being done through a grant process.

One example is a domestic violence shelter that was wiped out in that tornado is going to be able to rebuild because of a grant that was approved and is going to be using Red Cross funds to be able to to rebuild there.

So it's pretty amazing to hear about this long term plan of recovery in those areas that were hit so hard in December.

Well, thanks, Beth.

We're going to be talking to you later about the need for more disaster team volunteers and how our listeners and viewers can get involved.

And next, we're going to meet two of the local Red Cross volunteers, Brian Southern and Don Francis.

They'll share some of their experiences in the field, why they do this and their pitch for others to join the team.

Joining me now are two of the local volunteers, Brian Southern and Don Francis.

So welcome, guys.

First of all, how much advance notice do you get before hitting the road?

Let's start with you, Brian.

Yeah.

Thank thank you, David, for having us.

We appreciate it.

We get about, you know, five, 10 minutes advance notice.

But usually it's you know, we're the disaster services is a very responsive type action.

So when something happens in our community, then we're called to help come out and support the family.

Mm hmm.

Now, this, uh, for now, if you're called outside the Evansville area, you’d have your bags packed?

Yeah, we have a ready bag in our cars.

Most of us do.

And we have change of clothes and everything we need.

If we need to be away for an extended period of time or, you know, a lot of times we'll go to a scene and we'll be out in the rain for quite a while.

And so it's nice to have a dry set of clothes when you're done.

But yeah, we we try to be ready for anything that can come up, you know, longer stints.

We have a little time and sometimes we get we schedule visits with our with our clients so that they may not need to see us right at the time that something happens.

But they want to see us the next morning or something.

So, Don, do you ever have anything that's missing from your to go bag?

All the time.

Yeah, pretty well.

Pretty much so.

See, when we deploy for, say, a national event, which would be something like a hurricane or tornado.

And whenever we go away, that usually that's a trip the last two hurricanes I was on was would have been Hurricane Michael.

And then before that was Hurricane Florence.

And they were almost back to back.

So that made it interesting.

And- Yeah they were both in 2018, I believe.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

And the thing is, it's hard to remember everything you want to take.

There's only so much you can take.

Right.

Most important thing is an inflatable air mattress.

Oh, for sure.

For sure.

Because you never know.

We're going to end up doing this right.

And you never know what the circumstances are going to be for lodging and exactly what you're going to do exactly when you arrive.

Because we have so many different things that we do.

And the large disasters that, you know, if you'd like to discuss that, you know.

Mm hmm.

So so you guys have been on these missions before.

Now, Brian, you kind of stayed closer to home.

You've been doing that.

What counties around the area?

Yeah.

So I do several things for the Red Cross.

So and I also own a couple of companies, so I have to if I was going to deploy for a couple of weeks, I would have to really coordinate and schedule that.

So I've been on a few in the past.

You know, I've been on three large scale disasters, but most of my energy and effort is for the local community work, and that'd be what.

So that's so I do disaster services.

So we do re respond to fires and, and like on Monday where we have lots of homes that had tree damage and trees falling on homes, some flooding in this area, Occasionally we help customers out, but then I also do blood services, so we deliver blood in emergencies to different hospitals and we do blood drives, which is always a need for us.

And then I'm the shelter coordinator for this part.

As far southwest Indiana.

And then I also serve on the board of directors for the American Red Cross.

So kind of lots of roles to kind of make sure everything happens and just always constantly recruiting for for new volunteers, which is one of the big things that we need right now.

Well, shows you the wide scope of the Red Cross, all the services it provides.

So that takes a lot of a lot of people, a lot of people here, a lot of people and a lot of people forget that the Red Cross is probably 90%, 95% of the of the people that work in the Red Cross are volunteers.

Mm hmm.

So a significant portion, one of the largest volunteer organizations in the country.

Now, Don, you're kind of the hurricane guy as you’ve got two under your belt.

Well, I've switched roles just a little bit recently to where I do local events.

You know, you know something you can basically drive to within 50 miles or so.

And, you know, when you start getting a little aged, I realize I'm only 39, but but, you know, things change.

And so you look younger than that.

I say, Yeah.

Oh, thank you.

Thank goodness he's been 39 for a few years.

Yes, quite a few.

Yes.

Jack Benny wasn't that his line?

Yeah that was his line.

Exactly.

Exactly.

That shows you Jack Benny’s lines.

But.

no, I don't do the far out deployments, but, you know, like I said, local deployments, which we always have a flood in the spring.

Okay.

So we set up feeding stations and do mobile feeding for those.

Also, you know, like Brian mentioned earlier, we had that event with the with the storm, monday’s storm.

So we're recording this in August.

Yeah yeah yeah.

And it was a you really don't get a scope of the events unless you're out there and actually see it and I don't think a lot of people realize how bad it was.

But we've had an extremely busy week, you know, tree versus house.

Tree always wins.

Always, and a couple of fires mixed in with that last night.

So we do I do that.

And if you'd like me to describe what we do on a response to a home- I understand you were at a fire in Henderson recently and a lady had, what, seven children?

Yes.

Tell me about that.

Well, it was that was interesting.

She was a single mom and seven kids, and I think they were from ages about 15 through 2.

And they lived in a single wide mobile home.

So it made it they were extremely lucky to get out because usually in a fire you only have 2 minutes to get out before you're overcome.

And they got out and nobody was hurt.

And that's the net result we look for.

You know, the first fire deployment, not deployment, but the first fire run I made that were three fatalities on that one.

So you don't want that.

You never want to see that, of course.

But what we do is we provide our teams of disaster action teams are called DAT teams.

What we do is provide the people with enough goods and services, I guess you'd say, to get them on their track to recovery, get them on that road.

And basically we tell them that when we meet with them that this will get you going for two or three days.

It could be just references and referrals to other nonprofits who can help them.

In a lot of cases.

There's also financial assistance that we can provide and make referrals for other people, other organizations to provide the clients with financial assistance.

So we get them go on a couple, you know, for two or three days.

And then within a day or so, one of our caseworkers will call them and start talking about other types of referrals that they can make.

The caseworkers are the real.

I think a big thing is, number one, when we get to 18, our first and foremost job is to provide that initial care and compassion that's needed.

These people have just gone through something horrific, a disaster, an emotional wreck.

Yeah.

And so our number one job at when we get on the scene is just to provide that comfort, let them know that we're there to support them and help them.

And there's lots of resources.

You know, like Don was saying, you know, we we have connections and we have support in this community through mental health services, physicians, pharmacists, you know, eye doctors, just, you know, all the things that you just take for granted that all of a sudden you don't have access to.

We our network allows us to connect these people that have been affected, the families with all those services within like a day’s timeframe.

So it's an incredible service that we get the opportunity to provide for these families and just the myriad of needs we're talking about these the seven kids, I mean, these are school kids.

I mean, they they have yearly school clothes and yearly school supplies.

I mean, it just goes on and on and on.

So do you guys remember your very first assignment?

Yeah.

Brian Yeah.

So my my first assignment here was a fire here in the Evansville community, and it was a mother with two children and and a dog.

So, you know, we provide services for the pets as well.

But, you know, I was called out on the scene and this was during so this is right before COVID started.

So we're just just starting to hear about what some of the restrictions were going to be.

And but, yeah, the thing that that really got me was just how appreciative the families are when we show up.

It's a it's a symbol of of help and hope.

You know, people recognize the American Red Cross.

They may not know all the services that we provide, but the people who've had the interaction with us, you know, understand what we can do for them.

And for me, you know, this is about being able to take care of our the people in our community and the personal fulfillment that you get from being able to help people and knowing that we have this wealth of resources behind us because we do an extensive amount of training for our volunteers to make sure that they're equipped with everything they need to know to be able to provide the best possible support when they do get on the scene.

And so for me, just having that opportunity to do that just affirmed that this is something that I love to do.

And, you know, in a perfect world, I would never have to go to another scene.

But that's not reality.

And that's why we need the volunteers.

You know, we need people that are wanting to help their neighbors and the people in this community.

We're going to have Beth, tell us how you can become a volunteer just a few minutes.

So, Don, your first assignment with the Red Cross.

Well, like I mentioned earlier, my first was a triple fatality fire.

Well, that was your very first.

It was my very first one several years ago.

And, you know, kind of thrown into the fire, no pun intended there, of course, but but still, yeah, that was a definite learning experience.

But the worst case scenario, really.

Right.

And oh, yeah, it was a situation where the home was totally destroyed and two minor children and plus their father had perished and but there were still some other family members there that we had to take care of.

And we provide the clients also with what we call a comfort kit, which is basically toiletries and whatever.

And so because I have nothing, I mean, a lot of times they have absolutely nothing, not even their driver's license.

In some cases when they come out or, you know, their billfold purses.

So, or clothes, like we met with a lady last night who she had moved to a hotel, actually, when the electricity went off originally.

And then her house caught on fire after they were in after they were in the hotel.

But but she was still in her pajamas.

So when we met with her in a hotel lobby that, you know, to expand upon what Brian was saying is that, you know, it's gratifying for us.

And, you know, we are volunteers, but we do get paid.

The way we get paid is by hugs.

Hmm.

I bet.

Yes.

Yes.

It's very it's very interesting to say the least.

When you, when you leave a scene like that.

And there's there's a feeling of I've done something.

Well, yeah.

And it's entirely different than what you do if it's a national deployment like in eastern Kentucky right now, you know what's happening there.

We've got 13, 13, 14 shelters and several hundred people, 300 to 400 people in shelters.

Even some local Evansville volunteers have gone out and to help with the shelters out there.

So but those volunteers, such as Brian and I would be one of the things we do in addition to the shelters is mobile feeding.

And I think everybody is familiar with the Red Cross.

It looks like an old ambulance.

It would put a big Red cross on the side of it.

But those are being phased out for the new style.

But anyhow, whenever we go out to feed, we do lunch and dinner and one of those vehicles we can serve several hundred hot meals at each meal.

So we go out into the community and find people on streets where, you know, they're taking all their destroyed things from the house, laying out for to be picked up and we feed them.

And that's that's always it's great.

I mean, one lady I remember in Wilmington for Hurricane Florence came out and she was carrying a baby in one hand and dragging her two year old behind her.

And she was crying.

I said, you know, and we I walked outside I said ma’am, what can I what can I help you with?

And she said, We haven't eaten in two days.

Then you guys showed up and she says, Why do you do this?

And I told her very simply, is that we're Americans.

What do Americans do when Americans are in need?

We help each other.

And unfortunately, disasters are something that bring a soul together.

And in times like they are today, you know, people are going every which direction and different opinions.

But we always work together on disasters.

That's that's the strength of America.

So the food, where does that come from?

You guys cook and food?

Yeah.

We try not to go through cooking that we have lots of partners, local caterers and people that we have contracts with.

That when we do have a disaster, then those contracts get implemented.

And so there's national suppliers, there's local suppliers.

So we have a group of people that that's their whole job is to make sure that those relationships are set up and maintained and that they're on standby, that if something's going to if something happens, then we start planning with them.

So when it's a big event like the flood in eastern Kentucky, it becomes a little bit more routine because they have time to get ready for when it's a like an apartment fire where you have, you know, 15, 20 families affected and we need to have an immediate shelter.

Then we're calling our local restaurants and and caterers to kind of step up and just kind of make us some meals really quick.

And usually what we get today, what we do because of the things we had to change for COVID, we get prepackaged meals.

You know, they're single serving meals so used to we could do the buffets, but we we kind of have gone away from that just because of the requirements for safety and cleanliness and serving and things like that.

So now our caterers have really stepped up and are providing is the Styrofoam cleaning boxes that you get, you know, when you don't finish your meal right back, everything.

Yeah, your carry out stuff.

So they are easier to carry for you.

Yeah.

So yeah, so we get those and we they bring them to us in bulk and then we distribute them through our, our serves, our emergency response vehicles or to shelters or to shelters.

Yeah.

Let's learn more about my guests, Brian Southern and Don Francis.

Are you guys both from the Evansville area?

Don?

Yes, all 39 years of my life.

I'm over here.

Yeah, yeah.

On the West Sider.

And then I was I married an East sider.

So we're living in Warrick County now.

But anyhow.

Reitz graduate.

And you probably had a profession, didn't you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What did you do?

I was what our company called a regional manager for a manufacturer who was based in Aurora, Illinois.

So I had all I had like five states.

I was responsible for our distributors in those states, making sure they were doing the right things.

And engineering storage systems for them and whatever.

So whatever they needed.

Are you officially retired then?

Yes, I am.

Okay.

So you're definitely on call.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

But but I make this comment is that I wasn't with the Red Cross when Katrina hit, but our church at the time here in town sent down several different groups.

Bethel Temple?

Yes.

Bethel and I went with the second group to Biloxi, Mississippi, and the church that we were partnering with down there, they were literally supplying the food to the Red Cross, to our ERs to take it out and do mobile feeding.

And we were doing also feeding at the church.

But I saw how everything operated and how smooth the situation was because some of these events that you go to on national events in particular can be organized chaos.

And but the net result is that it always ends up working.

But I was so impressed with what the Red Cross was doing and how they handled it and all that that I said, When I retire, that's what I want to do.

Yeah, well, they cut through all the local bureaucracy.

I mean, they just show up and here, here's some food.

Oh, yeah, here's some help.

You don't have to go through all these different agencies.

And then the people you meet at these events, whether it's a local disaster or a national disaster, are just great.

I mean, I remember one lady in particular that came to the church.

We had like a drive thru set up where you could pick up supplies and food and water and ice, and we were allocating it depending on the number of people that were staying in a particular home.

And I said, Ma'am, how many people do you have in your home?

And she says, I have 18 people in this.

Well, she says, Well, the best part, she says, are 818 people staying at my home, six of whom I know.

Oh, so she took in all these strangers.

Exactly.

Exactly.

No questions asked.

Just you know, that's what you do.

And so let's see, Brian, you were a State Farm?

I am a State Farm agent here.

So you’re used to seeing damages?

Yeah, we you know, it's kind of, you know, like my to my two roles in life are kind of, you know, merged together.

We, you know, I do the same thing on a day to day basis.

We take, you know, protect families and take care of them when something happens and help them plan for the unexpected.

So you're no stranger to seeing trees and homes?

No.

No.

And flood damage.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so, you know, this is, you know, becoming a State Farm agent is kind of my second career.

You know, I own an engineering company, too, and I did that for most of my life for like 35 years.

And then when I decided that I wanted to have something that allowed me to stay home more and serve the community more, I made this transition to become a State Farm agent and that having that type of an opportunity to have a business like that allows me to do the Red Cross work and the other, you know, volunteer and nonprofit work, I do in the community.

Did that get you exposed to the Red Cross going to these scenes?

Actually, I started with the Red Cross before I became a State Farm agent.

Really?

Yeah.

Tell me about that.

Yeah.

So I, I formerly worked with FEMA on a contract basis because I'm like, I have a chemical, I'm a chemical engineer, electrical engineer.

So I was a chemical specialist.

So I was one of the people that FEMA used on chemical spills and stuff.

So I've been doing that for probably 20 years.

And when I when we moved to Evansville, we've been here about six years now, my wife and I, we moved here because she works for Mead Johnson here in town.

And they they kind of moved us here.

I could be anywhere because my engineering company serves customers all over the country.

So but this gave me the opportunity to transition from doing that work with FEMA and do and moving more towards a local focus and being able to provide, you know, local support on a day to day basis.

FEMA tends to be just the big disasters and things like that.

And this allows me to have that connection with the community.

And then it segued really nicely with me transitioning into becoming a State Farm agent where I can provide that service on a day to day basis.

Now, Don, you talked about the personal rewards that you receive helping others.

So that's your pitch to someone who would want to become a volunteer.

That's part of it.

Yeah.

I mean, it's you work these disasters, whether they're local or national, whatever.

I do, the other things that we do, which there's one in particular I want to mention.

But yeah, like I said, is very rewarding.

You always have that warm, fuzzy feeling when you're done that you've help somebody.

That's what it's about.

Because, I mean, if I just had the worst day of my life, you know, and our house burned down, you know, I'd want somebody there.

Can we help you?

You know, what can we do for you?

And that's that's just a lot of it is, like I said, self gratifying.

What were you going to mention?

What?

I was going to mention another program that a lot of people aren't aware of that Red Cross does is our home fire campaign.

And that's a little bit different.

I don't know anything about that.

Oh, see, see, you don't know.

Okay.

What we do is we provide free smoke alarms for houses and we do the installation.

I'm one of the installers here, here in Evansville, and most people don't realize that smoke alarms have a life of ten years.

And because the majority of people think that as long as they put batteries in them, as long as they hit that button, you know, sure.

When the time changes of what we want of them, yeah, you hit the button and it beeps.

Okay, that's good.

And every so often, if if the alarm starts chirping, well, it's time to replace the battery.

But if you'll notice now, in some of the big box stores like Lowe's, Home Depot or whatever, that everything is labeled ten year on the alarms.

And the reason for that, there's a chemical inside that gets this actually detects the smoke and it's got a ten year life and after ten years it starts to degrade and then it may or may not work.

Now, I don't want to be in a house that's got a fire started or it may or may not work.

So what we do, we'll send a team out of two people and in that covers the whole area.

The Southwest chapter of Indiana has encompassed and will replace take down the ones they have and replace them with new ones, battery operated.

And the other good news about it is that you never have to change a battery.

It's got a ten year lithium ion battery.

So in other words, in ten years, the alarm will remind you it's time to replace me.

It will?

Sure.

I think I need those.

Well, yes, I do.

For ten years of peace of mind.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

We had a case yesterday where.

Where the lady told us that you guys put the alarms in our house, and then their house caught on fire.

I said I'd like to see the alarm.

She said, Well, you can, but it's one big mass of plastic now.

So.

But that's a program people don't know about and they're not aware of the fact that alarms only last a certain period of time.

Yeah.

So, Brian, what's your pitch to a potential volunteer?

Yeah.

So my big thing is I think a lot of people perceive that if you're going to be a disaster services volunteer, that have to be ready to do these big deployments and that and that's not the case.

That's that's- Of all- you get to say I want to go do that by signing up to be a disaster services team member.

We provide a lot of good training, but all we're really looking for is somebody who's willing to do some local response and maybe cover like two 12 hour on call shifts a month.

That's it.

And you may go months without even going on on a scene.

And so it's not a it's not as big a commitment as I think a lot of people think it is.

And I think that keeps people from making that commitment, thinking that they have to be able to go away for two weeks.

And most of our volunteers don't do that.

And I think the big thing for us is, you know, volunteering within the Red Cross, you know, we have dozens of different positions.

I mean, you can be a blood volunteer, which means that you deliver blood to local hospitals and that's like a two hour job on a weekday or a weekend.

Or you can be a blood ambassador, which means you help support a blood drive and that's you just help check people in and couple hour commitment.

And and you've and you've done your civic duty.

So there's lots of ways to become involved with the Red Cross that don't require a huge amount of time commitment.

And so the more people we get, obviously, the better we can distribute the need with our volunteers and not depend on a handful of people doing all the work.

So more, more volunteers, less, less time commitment.

So well, guys, this has been very informative.

My thanks to Brian Southern and Don Francis, members of the Red Cross Disaster Response Team.

A lot of good work being done in this area and by a lot of good people and more are needed.

Thanks a lot, guys.

Thank you, David.

Thanks for having us.

So, Beth, we talked about the need for volunteers.

So what's the process if someone wants to come on board?

Well, it's easy to get started.

You can call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

They'll connect you to our volunteer services department to help you get set up.

You can also log on to RedCross.org and click on Volunteer.

And right there you'll see Disaster Action team and how to join.

There's about 10 hours of training that has to be completed.

All of that is done virtually.

So you can do it all online and you don't have to complete it all at once.

So if you want to do a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there, you can.

We have staff and volunteers that are mentors that can help you through that process.

So once that 10 hours is completed, then you're ready to go out with some other volunteers.

Typically, when you're in training, you'll go out and shadow.

You'll go out on a couple of disasters with some of our other DAT team members to see what it's like and get the experience before you actually start.

And then you'll be you'll be ready to go.

Because I talked to Don Francis and he said his very first call was a fatal fire, house fire.

So you had to have somebody with you to help you through that.

Yes, we do send a team of two disaster volunteers to every scene.

Yes.

So he was like a mentor there?

Well, yes.

Or a team of two.

Yes.

We ask that they go out in pairs.

Mm hmm.

So you have vehicles ready to roll?

We do with Fleet.

We have a fleet of Red Cross vehicles.

So people that volunteer, if they get a call, they can either go in own car or come to the Red Cross and pick up one of those vehicles and respond.

I mean, the ultimate goal is to be able to respond within 2 hours of that call that we received from emergency services or fire investigators.

We're typically the second call from dispatch or fire after those emergency services.

So they call 911 and I call the Red Cross, depending on the situation.

Well, now, do you have stockpiles of goods at the Red Cross?

We do.

We have an entire supply warehouse within the Red Cross that is filled with things like water, snacks, different supplies that we need when we go to a disaster, when we're responding, say, to a house fire, we bring what's called a comfort kit.

So this is a bag full of things that they might need, like toiletries, those basic necessities.

We have a particular type of soap that helps you get the smoke smell out of your clothing and those types of things.

Just some initial things that people might have lost in the fire that they're going to need right away.

Now, we talked about the disaster relief going on in Kentucky.

Of course, we had the tornado outbreak in Dawson Springs and Mayfield and of course, as we're recording this program now, eastern Kentucky is the focus of a lot of a volunteer effort.

So how is the Red Cross helping the folks of eastern Kentucky?

Well, there are dozens of Red Cross volunteers in eastern Kentucky right now.

Initially, with that response, they start out with mass care, which is basically looking for what those immediate needs are, such as sheltering food, getting those basic supplies to family.

So there are shelters set up throughout those counties in eastern Kentucky that the Red Cross is supporting.

So we have three volunteers from the Southwest chapter that are actually there that have deployed to help some of them are working within those shelters and helping those families meet immediate needs, work the staff, the shelter.

And then we do have one volunteer who took our emergency response vehicle.

There from the Southwest chapter that was that was requested by the Red Cross there locally in eastern Kentucky.

And and this vehicle can go out into communities and, serve meals to people.

So we may partner with restaurants or churches that are providing that food.

We may pick up some of those meals in to-go boxes, take them out into communities where people are cleaning up, doing things to try to recover what's left of their homes.

We can also provide meals at shelters as well.

So when you learn of of an impending hurricane or a flood warning, do the wheels start turning?

Absolutely.

We're immediately starting to meet with our entire disaster team across the region.

And depending on where something is happening, we may be touching base with those disaster teams in those areas to talk about, you know, what the potential needs are.

Get people on standby.

Let's start talking to our volunteers about who might be willing to deploy.

And so those conversations are happening well in advance.

When we see that something's coming, we have meetings almost daily or briefings with the National Weather Service, with EMA directors locally or wherever the event is happening so that we're prepared and we're working together.

Now.

The Red Cross, of course, is a leader in collecting blood for emergencies.

So how is that going?

It's going really well, you know, with the Red Cross location there on Stockwell, all Biomedical Services is now in in that location under one roof.

So used to our blood was processed on the west side of Evansville.

But just recently, actually just as recently as February of this year, we were able to move all of our biomedical services to the Stockwell office, which allows us to produce 6000 additional units of blood every year, which is tremendous.

We've upgraded our equipment.

We're just able to process things more efficiently.

And it's just great to have all the staff and all of our blood products under one roof.

Is this like a regional blood center then?

Yes.

So we provide blood for 40% of the nation's blood supply.

We provide blood for all the area hospitals.

So Deaconess locations, Ascension Memorial Hospital in Dubois County, we provide to Union Hospital, which is up in the Terre Haute area.

So, yeah, it's pretty incredible to see the process.

And of course, you know, everything is FDA regulated, so there are restrictions about access to that part of the building.

But we have, uh, volunteers that actually transport that blood.

So they'll come to the Stockwell location, pick up that blood and deliver it to hospitals or medical facilities, wherever it is needed.

I'm curious about the shelf life of blood.

The shelf life of blood is I believe it's somewhere around 40 days, 42 days.

So it's critical that we get those donations in.

And you can only donate blood every few months.

So as often as you can, we ask people to come in and do that.

We have blood drives all the time at the Stockwell location.

We have them.

And then, you know, churches, businesses, community groups are always hosting drive.

So it's real easy if you just go to Redcrossblood.org and you can type in your zip code and it'll show you when the most recent blood drives are coming up in your area.

So as executive director of the Red Cross, you wear many hats and I guess one of them is just spreading the word about your services and and the need for volunteers.

Well, you know, I'm very passionate, passionate about this organization.

And as you know, as a journalist, I am passionate about storytelling.

And I think there's no better story to tell than what the Red Cross is doing.

I mean, we we really have a wide range of services that we provide.

But when you're looking at all of the natural disasters that are happening across this country, they're happening more frequently.

People are displaced from their homes longer than they were in the past.

We know that the need is out there and we have to get more volunteers to help respond here at home and possibly deploy to other parts of the country.

We're just we're seeing the need escalate so quickly, faster than we had originally anticipated.

So the need is greater.

And I think people will realize that you just don't cover these national disasters.

I mean, there's disasters closer to home.

I mean, we're talking about these fires and and floods.

And it really it's neighbor helping neighbor mostly, you know, that that's so critical.

You know, we respond to these disasters, but we have to be prepared for when really big things are going to happen.

And that's one of the things we're focused on in the Red Cross.

And something I'm very passionate about is getting some of our programs into the communities that need it most.

So those communities that could be most vulnerable to disasters that don't have the infrastructure to support it and they need social cohesion.

Neighbors need to get to know their neighbors.

So we're doing things like our home fire campaign, where we install smoke detectors in people's homes for free.

We're looking at neighborhoods that need them most and not just our volunteers going in and installing those, but getting people that actually live in those neighborhoods to come alongside us and install, get to know the neighbor down the street.

Because when a disaster happens and if it's big enough and we can't get to you fast enough, you're going to be calling on your neighbor, relying on your neighbor to help.

And that's so important in building community.

And it's not just smoke detectors, but other programs.

We're doing a lot of hands only CPR training to help people in communities and schools.

We're going to be partnering with the Henderson County Jail to do some hands only CPR presentations.

There, Vanderburgh, community corrections, all different types of places that we know have a need.

Now, of course, COVID is still with us.

How has that impacted the Red Cross?

Oh, it definitely impacted the Red Cross, and we did.

We lost a few of our disaster volunteers that just didn't feel comfortable responding because of that.

We did switch to virtual response for a while.

We're back to in-person, which we're really glad to get to do, but we were able- What’s virtual response?

Well, when a disaster would happen, we would have to call that family on the phone to verify the disaster and help them and provide that assistance.

We also switch from just, you know, providing a check or cash or cash card on the spot.

We were able to do electronic transfer.

Now with our financial assistance, which is helpful, those kinds of processes will continue because it has made things more efficient.

But we're just glad to be able to be back in person with people and see people that we serve face to face.

Well, talking to the volunteers, Brian and Don, there's nothing better than that face to face contact with these people.

And they need that when they're in their time of need.

Oh, absolutely.

It's critical to get that hug and that support.

Seeing someone there when you've you've lost everything and you feel hopeless knowing that the Red Cross is there and we're going to stick with you and we're going to help you on a path to recovery, you know, it's all about building resilience and helping people overcome adversity and whatever disaster or traumatic event they're facing.

What about your turnover with volunteers?

Is that just constant?

You know, it's really interesting.

We have a volunteer base that has been with us for years and they have such amazing stories to tell.

There's one in particular, her name is Martha Aldridge, and I hope she won't mind if I share her name, but she's from Posey County.

She's getting ready to celebrate her 50th year as a volunteer with the Red Cross.

She started when she was a kid doing some first aid with the Red Cross, volunteering, and now she continues to go to some of our outreach events, things like that.

She's she's just amazing.

So to hear her stories are incredible.

And then we have you know, we really would love to get some brand new volunteers.

We're looking we'd love to recruit some college students, people that, you know, have a little bit of extra time on their hand and can be on call.

You know, I guarantee if you go out on your first response, you'll be hooked in.

You'll want to continue to help.

That's what these guys said.

I mean, that first call and the reward they get from helping someone, they take that home with them and then they're they're eager to help again.

Yes.

Because they know that the need is there and it's and it's it's just so interesting to see some of these families that never expected you to show up, never expected you to hand them a little bit of financial assistance to help them get started or to continue to give them a call the next week and say, hey, how are things going?

Have you been able to connect with this agency or what help do you still need?

And let’s see if we can give you the phone numbers you need or the connections that you need to make that happen?

Beth Sweeney, now the boss at the American Red Cross chapter of Southwest Indiana.

Thanks for being my guest and sharing your compassion for this organization and telling the story of these disaster response volunteers.

More are needed and you can contact the Red Cross for more information.

Thanks a lot, Beth.

Thanks so much for having me.

Always great to see you.

Good to see you.

I'm David James and this is Two Main Street presented by Jeffrey Berger, Kim Wren and the Berger Wealth services team at Baird Private Wealth Management.