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Samantha Hayes reporting Trained volunteers from Utah are preparing to go with the Red Cross into the Hurricane Katrina disaster area along the Gulf Coast. It's a mission that can keep them away from home for weeks on end.
Sara Jordan is preparing to leave Tuesday. She may drive down with an Emergency Response Vehicle or fly out to the staging area in Houston.
Sara is not only going to help, she's going home.
Sara Jordan, Red Cross Volunteer: "My parents evacuated. They are with my sister in Wisconsin. Their home is in Mandeville. Let's hope it still is. It's the first little town on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain."
She brings with her knowledge of the area and experience from other hurricanes. She was in Florida with the Red Cross last year.
Sara: "The amount of mold literally seeping through the walls, children living in those homes, the parents not fully understanding the impact of the damage."
That's why all the volunteers must have special disaster response training.
The Mountain Valley Chapter in Provo will send a truck and seven volunteers. You could say their emergency director is the right woman for the right hurricane. Her name is Katrina.
Katrina Pope/Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross: "A lot of times people just want to help. They see a need. They say, 'I can't do everything, but I can give two or three weeks of my time to help.' That's the major reason people go out."
But during those two or three weeks most people save for a vacation, volunteers are doing all this for free.
Sara: "Your adrenaline gets going and you just think about being there. Then the reality of, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to do this and that. I've got to find someone to stay here because I've got a cat and take care of all the bills.'"
But all that can seem unimportant the moment they are faced with helping people who have lost everything.
Sara: "It's amazing work. It's sobering. It's humbling. It's awe-inspiring to see the mobilization of people literally from around the country coming down simply because they want to help."
Sara says going into these disaster areas in the past, the feeling is surreal. There's typically no electricity or cars, or many people for that matter, and the silence is almost scary. A feeling that doesn't often translate through the pictures and video.
