Less than a week after Hurricane Sandy ravaged parts of the east coast, local Nants Foley was on a red eye flight to West Virginia. While the brunt of the storm hit New York and New Jersey, as many as 24 states were affected by the category two hurricane, including rural communities set in the Appalachia mountains.
“The storm came in snapping trees, with hurricane winds, and dumped four feet of snow in an hour in an area that usually gets no more than one foot of snow,” Foley said. “The roads were impassable. There was no electricity and there was no way to get to them.”
Foley, who was recently hired as the preparedness manager for the local American Red Cross office in Hollister, became part of a team of 40 known as kitchen two in Upshur County. She said the group partnered with the Southern Baptist Church who cooked meals, while the American Red Cross volunteers delivered the meals in the community using emergency response vehicles. One of the challenges for the volunteers was finding their way around the rural communities.
“The streets were labeled as Backwoods 1, Backwoods 2,” she said. “You don’t ever ask anyone for an address.”
She said the National Guard troops were especially helpful with finding places. Over a seven-day period, the team gave out 50,000 snacks and meals.
“We worked 10 to 12 hours a day,” she said. “We did everything from unloading the trucks to loading them up to doing inventory. You name it, I did it. You have to leave your ego behind. You need to be willing and able to go with your hands open.”
PG&E crews from California that included some residents from San Benito County also deployed to the East Coast shortly after the storm hit to help bring the power back on line in some of the communities. Foley said some rural areas are still without power.
Foley said the people in the communities who received the help were quick to show their appreciation.
“When we were walking down the streets, they would honk their horns and wave at us,” she said. “The people brought coffee for us and fed us.”
Before she left on Nov. 4, she did not know where she would be heading.
“When you deploy, you just tell the Red Cross that you are ready and they look at the training that you’ve had, call you and place you where they want to put you,” she said.
Foley volunteered with the American Red Cross for five years before she came onboard in October as a staff member. She had taken emergency preparedness training, but she said the most valuable skill she had was managerial experience. The hardest part of the 10 days she spent in West Virginia was the cold.
“Overnight it would be in single digits,” she said. “One day it got up to almost 70 degrees, but the differential was a killer.”
She and the other volunteers stayed in motels or in dormitories at a local 4-H camp. She had a roommate for the first time since college.
“What surprised me is how close our group got,” she said. “We worked fabulously as a team. There were no ruffled feathers or out-of-control egos as sometimes you get in groups. I made friends I know I’m going to keep for the rest of my life.”
Now that she has returned to San Benito County, her focus will be on bolstering the volunteer roster for the ARC Monterey Bay Area chapter of which San Benito is a part. She stressed the need for volunteers to help with a variety of tasks and for differ lengths of time. She said volunteers do not always need to commit to serving a certain number of hours a week, but can sometimes volunteer for one-time events. She said she also plans to bring more preparedness training into the community.
Locals can learn more about the American Red Cross during the Lights On Celebration, when the office will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. During that time, they will be collecting letters or cards to sent as part of the “Holiday Mail for Heroes” effort.
The American Red Cross office is located at 357 Fifth St., in Hollister. It is open Monday through Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Thursday and Friday mornings. For more information, call 636-2100.
