A little more than a week after settling in at the American Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter, four new AmeriCorps members are off to New Orleans to help Hurricane Gustav evacuees.
On Aug. 29, Ally LeClair, Laura Parrot, Jeffrey Scott, and Ashley Spoto boarded a plane for the Big Easy, where they would help Gustav evacuees staying at emergency shelters.
“[Hurricane Gustav] is nerve-wracking for people in New Orleans because they’ve been through Hurricane Katrina,” Spoto said in a phone interview with the Sun, just hours before leaving for Louisiana.
Spoto said that one of her main goals is to bring people hope.
“A sense of preparedness is a big deal for them,” Spoto said. “Practically, people need food and water, but they also need hope—someone to tell them that this isn’t then end, that they can start over again.”
Spoto, who underwent an intensive week of training in Washington, D.C., with her fellow Santa Barbara County volunteers, also said that she’s eager to put her skills to good use.
“We’ve been training for hours and hours and now we’re going to be doing the real thing,” she said.
AmeriCorps is a network of local, state, and national service programs that trains more than 70,000 people per year to meet the country’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment, according to a press release from the Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter.
The four volunteers are expected to spend about three weeks working at the shelter in New Orleans. After that, Spoto and Lewis will return to their posts at the Red Cross Preparedness and Response Center in Santa Maria, and LeClair and Parrott will return to the county’s Red Cross headquarters in Santa Barbara.
As part of the National Preparedness and Response Corps, LeClair, Parrott, Scott, and Spoto educate their assigned communities about disaster preparedness, health, and safety. They also respond to national and local disasters—like Hurricane Gustav—and help recruit future volunteers.
The decision to become an AmeriCorps volunteer was simple for LeClair, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.
“I really wanted to do humanitarian work and also pay off my student loans,” LeClair said.
According to the national AmeriCorps Web site, www.AmeriCorps.gov, the organization offers several financial incentives for its members, such as possible loan deferment, financial aid, and scholarships.
“Coming to Santa Barbara, becoming an AmeriCorps member—it just kind of all came together for me,” LeClair said, adding that she is looking forward to helping Santa Barbara residents receive the services they need.
The American Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter has provided services to more than 30,000 people in the county over the past year. It has distributed disaster preparedness and health and safety materials to more than 13,900 school children, as well as provided shelter and materials to residents fleeing from the Zaca and Gap fires.
For more information about the American Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter, visit www.sbredcross.org or call 687-1331 in Santa Barbara, 928-0778 in Santa Maria, and 736-5110 in Lompoc.
Staff Writer Amy Asman compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send items for consideration to aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 4-11, 2008.