GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – American Red Cross volunteers and father-son duo, Dennis and Jesse Nagan, returned to Northeast Wisconsin this week after helping provide food, shelter, and emotional support to victims of Hurricane Matthew.
The two left on Friday, October 7, in an emergency response vehicle from Green Bay headed to Florida and the Carolina’s.
Father, Dennis, says there were many lessons learned on this 3,500 mile journey.
“No matter how little the damage, it was still devastating to them (hurricane victims). The other thing, of course with the Red Cross, is being flexible, because you never know what you’re going to be doing. Whatever they need you to do, is what you’ll do.”
This was Dennis’ third deployment and Jesse’s first. Dennis also volunteered during Hurricane Katrina and Isaac. But admits this trip was particularily memorable being with his son.
“It’s one of the reasons I went this time, especially when he could go and do something special like that with him, that we’ll always remember and being so proud,” says Dennis.
The older Nagan admits there were tough parts of the trip. It was difficult to see people, who had lost everything, worry about looters.
“People were coming to steal from them and it was really emotional to give them supplies. We came back and checked on them the next day and gave them more supplies.”
American Red Cross Chapter Executive Steve Hansen says volunteers like the Nagan’s are what the organization is all about.
“You know every volunteer has a story and they are always quite inspirational. It’s so neat to hear what they have to say and how their experiences were,” says Hansen. “It’s very difficult and challenging work when a volunteer goes off and leaves their family and is on deployment. They really don’t know what they’re going to encounter. But they know, through the American Red Cross, they’re there to help people, in what is probably one of the most traumatic experiences that they’ll ever have.”
Wisconsin has deployed 81 trained Red Cross responders to help with the hurricane disaster relief.
U.S. officials report damage of at least $10 billion, making Matthew the costliest hurricane since Sandy in 2012.
For more information on how you can become a volunteer with the American Red Cross, go to www.redcross.org.
