Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE - Relief hasn't come easy for Jim Duke.
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Although he was thrilled to see his wife, Donna and their youngest daughter, Katie, when he got back, leaving the relief operation proved difficult.
"It's the guilt feeling of being home because you know that they're still there and it's just non-stop," he said.
Duke's work in Meridian consisted mainly of helping things go smoothly at one of the Red Cross's relief centers. He helped to shepherd people through the lines for assistance, handed out food and water and also served as the go-between with the agency's hurricane center in Montgomery, Ala.
His time in Meridian strengthened his belief in the importance of volunteering.
"The importance is a lot more real," he said. "You can read about it on the paper and see it on the news, but being there and working firsthand is probably the best experience I've ever had.
"It humbled me a lot to realize how much I have. I have a lot and these people don't have anything to go home to."
Duke said that the evacuees he saw were under a great deal of stress.
"They've lost everything. They wake up and they see all these people around who are not their family. They're in a big warehouse. They don't have any privacy. It hits them everyday that their home is gone, their job is gone," he said. "Some of them don't know where their children are. Some of them don't know where their parents are."
Under those circumstances, Duke's efforts went beyond handing out water or food.
"We can never say we know how you feel. You can never say that because we don't know how they feel - we've never experienced that," he said. "All you can do is hear their stories and hear their hurts and hear their pain, and just try to comfort them the best you can."
Many of the people in the region managed to keep going thanks to their faith, according to Duke.
"One good thing is they're very godly people. That's what really sustains them," he said. "They're holding on to that faith that they're going to continue on."
On his one day off during his three-week stint, Duke got a look at all of the areas along the coast that were in the hurricane's path.
He ventured to Slidell, La., which sits on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.
"The smell was the first thing that hit me," he said of toxic stew of sewage, petroleum and trash now floating on the lake. "I can't compare it to anything you can even describe."
He also drove through St. Louis Bay in Mississippi where the eye of Katrina struck land.
"It was something that didn't even seem possible, that water could do what it did and wind could do what it did."
In the world turned upside down by the storm, Duke saw houses, which had been blown off their foundations, sitting atop cars. The wind and water gutted a Wal-Mart near Gulfport, Miss., leaving only the white plastic bags scattered throughout neighborhood trees as a reminder of its existence.
"I've heard it said by several people, even news people down there, saying it's like a Third World country and it's true," he said adding that the presence of military troops armed with M-16s was both a comfort and an eye-opener.
Duke will ship out again in a week, but he's not sure where he'll be going given the status of Hurricane Rita.
"That's what I'm going to have to talk to my supervisor about," he said. "They'll call me in a few days if they can get (a cellular phone signal) out."
Duke suspects that he will end up back in Meridian. Many of the people who were in shelters along the coastline were being moved inland as Rita made its way ashore. Moreover, inland residents who lost their houses don't want to leave.
"They don't want to be far away from the Gulf because they believe there's going to be rebuilding going on and they'll have jobs to go back to," he said.
The local chapter of the American Red Cross in Grand Junction is ready to accept volunteers and donations for Hurricane Rita just as it did for Katrina.
"We've been in response mode since Aug. 29," said Jean Hermanson, executive director of the Western Colorado Chapter. "The initiative to recruit additional volunteers remains in place."
Although volunteers face the hardships of being away from their families and jobs, the Red Cross pays for travel and lodging expenses for all of its volunteers working in relief efforts.
The Grand Junction chapter has deployed more than 30 volunteers and Hermanson said the chapter would send out more.
"Some may be deployed to our call centers. Some may be deployed to our disaster operations center in (Washington) D.C.," she said. "That's all determined by where our needs are and the skills and capabilities of the individuals."
When Duke gets back from his next stint of hurricane relief, he and his wife plan to talk to area groups about the importance of the Red Cross.
They will also be talking to people about their plans to go on a mission in Suriname, a country on the northeastern coast of South America.
Unlike their Red Cross efforts, the Dukes will be raising money to underwrite their work south of the equator.
Either way, Duke is eager to lend a hand.
"There is no greater joy than helping somebody else. There really isn't."
The American Red Cross is accepting monetary contributions at http://www.redcross.org or by calling 1-800-HELP NOW. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact the Western Colorado Chapter at 242-4851.
Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com
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