Hurricane response less dramatic, but just as important

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Pikes Peak area residents themselves became a force of nature. They swarmed into New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help the hurricane victims, took hundreds of refugees into their homes here and donated thousands of dollars for food, shelter and other aid.

The response to Gustav and Ike hasn't been as dramatic, partly because the need hasn't been as dramatic - and partly because donations are down to the organizations that provide aid.

But many local organizations are pitching in, and many more are watching to see what needs arise in coming weeks.

U.S. Northern Command - based in Colorado Springs - has played a key role in coordinating search and rescue operations in Texas, involving hundreds of local military personnel.

The American Red Cross Pikes Peak Chapter deployed a team of 10 to help with hurricane relief, and they are committed to stay for three weeks, local spokeswoman Jennifer Mariano said.

"Oftentimes they're living in the same conditions our clients are living in, working 12 to 15 hour shifts," Mariano said.

The Red Cross concentrates on the essentials of food, clothing and shelter at first, she said, and then switches gears to case work.

Besides volunteers, the local chapter sent a mobile communications vehicle to Baton Rouge and a food truck to Texas that's delivering 500 meals a day to those battered by the storms.

"A lot of the folks, their grocery stores are still closed," Mariano said. "I'm hearing stories of people swarming the vehicles."

Jeannie Chambers, who works for American Medical Response in Colorado Springs, volunteered to go to Texas to help residents flee Hurricane Gustav. She said she was shocked by the "sheer magnitude" of a hurricane evacuation operation.

She and her team moved wheelchair users from Beaumont, Texas, to safer spots farther inland. The ambulance she drove was one of a long, long line of ambulances, buses and other vehicles, she said.

"Words can't even express the magnitude of how many vehicles were there at the venue of transport," Chambers said. "It was well-orchestrated, and there were a lot - a lot - of different vehicles. It's very exciting to know we can impact people's lives."

People who had to evacuate their homes are also turning up in Colorado Springs, said Paula Stock, the local Salvation Army director of transitional housing and family services. At least 15 evacuees have come to the Salvation Army, she said, and she expects more soon.

"I think we haven't even begun yet to see the aftermath," Stock said.

But what she's not seeing is an outpouring of food, coats or money for the victims of these recent hurricanes.

"I need assistance to be able to provide assistance to these folks," Stock said. "We'll be hit again with people who need help."

The funding picture is similar nationally, said Mike McCausland of Colorado Springs, executive director of the Humanitarian International Service Group, which specializes in connecting a network of private-sector resources to people's needs.

"The donations have been low," McCausland said. "I don't know if it's donor fatigue, or that people just move on. Typically, when the media moves on and the funding moves on, the relief tends to move on."

The victims of Gustav, especially, have lost the battle for national attention, overshadowed by Ike and bad economic news. But the volunteers who have witnessed the devastation won't quickly forget.

"Really, it puts in perspective what we take for granted in life when you see these people who are leaving their homes and never know if they will be there when they return," Chambers said. "I would definitely go again. And if I needed help, I would hope that someone would be there to help my family."

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