Petalumans join national relief efforts

When retired Petaluma resident Deanna Statler returned home from her vacation in the Sierra mountains on Aug. 26, she was surprised to hear a voicemail message from the Red Cross telling her to be ready for possible deployment to Louisiana to assist with the Hurricane Isaac relief efforts.

"When I got the call Monday morning at 7 a.m. telling me to go, I was excited," Statler said.

Statler joined other local Red Cross Disaster Assistance Response Team members, including Petaluma Ecumenical Properties, or PEP, Housing Executive Director Mary Stompe, as well as volunteers from across the country who rushed to Louisiana days before the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

"The thing about being a national disaster worker is that you get the word to go late and have very little time to prepare," said Stompe, who left her job for a week to be involved in the relief efforts. "Thank goodness for cell phones so we can still get our (day) jobs done."

When Statler arrived in Louisiana on Aug. 28 with four other Bay Area volunteers, she met a chaotic scene of frantic Red Cross workers trying to unload shelter supplies and transport volunteers arriving at their headquarters in Baton Rouge to their posts throughout the area.

"Even though I was supposed to be helping with feeding people at headquarters, the manager said they needed people at a shelter in St. Gabriel," Statler said. "So, the five of us took a rental car and drove there to help out. That's an example of doing anything they need you to do."

St. Gabriel, a small town located on a bend of the Mississippi River approximately 12 miles south of Baton Rouge, has a large mobile home community. Residents in the area were urged to evacuate their homes and join the Red Cross volunteers at a shelter set up in the local high school gymnasium.

After renting cars and driving to the shelter location, Statler and her four companions arrived the day before the storm hit to find only the shelter manager and one other volunteer on site. Immediately, Statler and her crew began helping to unload supplies, set up cots and ready the facility in preparation for the storm. Statler said she was relieved when Red Cross reinforcements arrived later in the day.

"The five of us who arrived first were all older people, so we were glad when some younger volunteers showed up and took care of the heavy lifting of supplies," said Statler.

The second the shelter doors opened, people began lining up seeking refuge. As the storm raged on through the night, covering the streets in a foot of standing water and ripping shingles off the building across the street, it knocked out power to the gymnasium filled with approximately 40 evacuees and 13 shelter volunteers.

"We had to keep the gymnasium doors closed because of the mosquitoes," said Statler. "The gym became like an oven once the power was out, with no air circulating."

Statler said that after the power had been out for almost 36 hours, people in the shelter were becoming increasingly worried and bored. With sweltering temperatures in the gymnasium wreaking havoc on everyone's nerves, Red Cross volunteers stepped into action and tried to deliver some creature comforts to the weary evacuees.

"People were really in a state of concern about their homes and what was going on," she said. "We'd been eating nothing but snacks and packaged food since we arrived. Everyone was stressed, so finally the staff called the police chief and asked if there was any place nearby with electricity that was cooking hot meals."

The chief explained that a local casino had power and would be able to provide hot meals to the shelter at a discounted price. He then picked up the meals, delivered them to the shelter and paid for everything himself.

Soon after, the fire chief came to inspect the shelter and saw how uncomfortably hot it was in the gymnasium. He returned an hour later with large industrial fans, emergency lighting and a generator. "At least we were all able to sleep comfortably that night. Sometimes, helping others is just easing their surroundings so they can rest," Statler said,

For Statler, who retired to Petaluma five years ago after living most of her life in Illinois, her journey to Louisiana was the culmination of almost a year of training. After a friend began taking Red Cross classes, Statler said she became interested. She finished her training and placed herself on several volunteer lists, including the national disaster relief list. Being divorced and living alone allows the over 70 Statler freedom in her schedule, and more time to do volunteer work, she says.

Statler added that for her, volunteering has given her a great deal of fulfillment. "The people that I met were so sweet and appreciative that we were there," she said tearfully. "They were genuinely happy to see us. As I was leaving, even the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) people at the airport would say, &‘thank you so much for coming to help us'. It made me feel like it was really a worthwhile way to spend my time."

Stompe, who is a Red Cross Disaster Action Team Leader and required to go wherever she is called to assist, said that her trip began in Houston, Texas and later moved to Port Allen, Louisiana.

"There was a lot of flooding in certain areas," Stompe said. "Cars were under water and there was major damage in areas between Baton Rouge and New Orleans."

Long involved in nonprofit work through PEP Housing and other organizations, Stompe said that after seeing the September 11 attacks in 2001, she knew she wanted to become more involved with disaster situations.

"I felt so helpless watching the attacks unfold on TV," Stompe said. "I decided I needed to participate and felt that the Red Cross was the best fit for me."

Stompe has since worked on numerous fire relief situations locally, become a trained member of the San Francisco Disaster Animal Response Team that helps animals in times of crisis, and remains on call for local and national relief efforts during nights and weekends. Between her fulltime job and her husband and son, Stompe says she is kept plenty busy.

Ellen Maremont Silver, spokesperson for the Red Cross in Sonoma County, said that many people in the county who volunteer are retired, but that anyone can become involved. "It's all about finding a volunteer schedule that fits your life," she said.

Silver said that the Red Cross is looking for more volunteers in Petaluma. For more information visit www.arcsm.org or call 577-7600.

(Contact Janelle Wetzstein at janelle.wetzstein@arguscourier.com)