Salt Lake Red Cross Volunteer has Stories to Tell - October 1, 2008

American Red Cross disaster volunteer Todd Hansen of Salt Lake City spends his day driving an Emergency Response Vehicle on two routes in Galveston, Texas. One route takes him into the center of the city and the other takes him over to the West Island where many middle class homes and some fine homes were destroyed. He is handing out food, water and cleaning kits to people affected by Hurricane Ike. Hansen said, “Everywhere you look you see heaps of materials and debris that used to be houses.” He said he loves his job helping people, “I love what I do, I am so glad that I can help these people, we are serving the people who need us the most. You would not believe how grateful people are, when we drive by in our Red Cross vehicle, they wave and yell at us, ‘We love the Red Cross.’ They take photos and movies of us doing our jobs, handing out food, waters and cleaning kits.”

Hansen is one of 30 Red Cross disaster trained Utahns who has gone to the Gulf to help this hurricane season. He was trained and deployed by the Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.