Story  and photo by: Jay Bonafede, American Red Cross

Gail Robinson had already been volunteering with the Red Cross for two year when she decided to start as an AmeriCorps member in February, so she knew a little about what to expect. Her experience as a disaster worker, meeting with families who have just lost everything after a fire, helped prepare her to support emergency communications between deployed service members and their families as an AmeriCorps with Service to the Armed Forces.

“You’re dealing with people that have been hurt, in need of their family, one way or the other,” Robinson said. “I do a lot of talking, a lot of, ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you.’ I enjoy it, though, I really do.”

Semi-retired from Hertz Rental Car, Robinson joined AmeriCorps in part because of the tuition assistance the program provides. Mostly, however, Robinson likes helping people. So, after a tornado tore through the Skyview Mobile Home Park in El Reno, OK, May 25, she jumped right in to support the Red Cross relief operations.

“I was able to go out into the field, go door-to-door offering water and cleaning supplies, and just an ear for them to have someone to talk to,” Robinson said. “Part of the trailer park was totally gone, and the first part of the trailer park was not. We walked around to those doors and talked with them, too.”

“They were concerned about the people that did lose something. It’s like, you’ll need these to help them, those that are not home today. ‘That’s a good idea.’ It’s a good thing that we’re there to help them think as well. It was a good day.”

This was Robinson’s first time working on a larger scale Disaster Relief Operation, but she found it very similar to meeting with families after a single-family house fire, or service members and their families in need of that emergency communication.

”When it comes to people, it’s the same,” she says. “They’re devastated, they can’t believe it happened to them.”

She says it can take a lot of listening and waiting for people in these situations to share their stories and their needs. But whether it’s meeting with a family after a devastating house fire, helping Sound the Alarm by installing free smoke alarms in homes that need them, or supporting an entire community wiped out by a tornado, Gail Robinson encourages others to do what she’s done: “Put on that patience hat and enjoy the ride!”

“When I leave here at the end of the day, I feel empowered, like I have done something to help someone,” she says. “If you have a heart to give, this is for you.”

To learn more about how you can begin your Red Cross volunteer journey, visit www.redcross.org/volunteer.