We had a tornado form in Mississippi and travel over 130 miles.It hit a small area in Selmer,TN among other places. We responded to Selmer and one house in another county. Red Cross in Mississippi responded to virtually the same area we were in but on thier side of the border.

For our response, we assessed , between three counties, about twenty homes as damaged in some way. All seven homes we saw in Selmer were declared destroyed and unlivable. I do not have numbers for any other state. None in Madison county were total losses, but nearly every home we saw in Selmer was.

I have never felt more in the Christmas Spirit as today, my presence alone brought hope to those who lost thier entire homes. That community is lucky. They had a great deal of people rush in to help with clean up. The nieghborhood church mustered up volunteers and no one went hungry today. They had more food and water and teas and sodas as well as some of the best diabetic friendly lemonade ever tasted in my fifty three years.

I feel really fortunate to be able to serve my country in this capacity. I have now done disaster responses of level 7 (Texas floods), level 5 (South Carolina floods) and this one here in my own chapter, alevel two. Level two only because we did not seek out of state assistance.

We did get help ,three people,from the Memphis office. We eight finished all initial assesments in three counties in one day. We provided monetary assistance to about a dozen families,put others in touch with other resources and we will be in the area for the next few days, ensuring we met any additional needs.

We really handled our business and my wife did case work for the first time in a large scale disaster. Up until now, she has done fire calls. Very proud of her tonight. She has really been deep in the case work for a bit.

Wow!
Thanks for sharing and thanks for your service, navmed! Disasters could get any of us at any time, It's good to hear about people helping people.

"There is always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area." -H. Romney.
It sounds like you know what this means and so do those you work with.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas

About 20 yrs ago I had a large apartment fire.
6 Days before my oldest son was born.
Not only did my family lose everything, but many other families lost all they owned.
The Red Cross was our only salvation. They helped with food, clothes, shelter, and also made sure that the 120 fire fighters that had responded had food, coffee, and heat. (it was February in Michigan)

Because of Awesome people like you and your wife my family thrives today.

Thank you Navmed for your service.

I will always be grateful for the help we received from the RedCross.

God Bless you and Your Crew!!!!

You all are Heros to Myself and all whos lives you have touched.

Never forget that.

Merry Christmas my Brother.

Navmed,

People like you really make a difference!

Paw Salute to you,

GW

Thank you all. I hope it impacts you enough to volunteer your skills to a volunteer effort. I share my life openly. I am teansparent and wil always talk about things most people won't . Its point blank, just my way.

It is 0145. Mary and I had just gone to bed at 2330. My Disaster Action Team phone went ringing. We just got back from a fire call. We just provided a prepaid card to the mother of three. They are in a hotel now, safe and warm.

Our chapter finished with its final paper work for the disaster event noted in my original post. Now,with the water receding north of us,west TN towns including Memphis will probably need red cross shelters. Luckily, it is not going to be ours,but I have been informed that I will be personally requested to be the sheltering coordinator if they open shelters. Apparently, I am considered a shelter expert now.

After my last Disaster Response , yes,I am. I opened three, ran two, closed two and was the night manager at my first one. My last shelter I had eleven volunteers ( some actually with supervisor or Manager in their record). I was not but I got promoted to it and my chapter here has placed me as the Lead, which is like being staff with out the paycheck. I love doing it.