Twenty years ago, Hurricane Rita slammed ashore in southwestern Louisiana on September 24, 2005. Although a powerful Category 3 storm that caused around $18.5 billion in damage and resulted in around 120 deaths across four states, her ferocity paled in comparison to big sister, Katrina, who crashed into the area just three weeks earlier.

I’ll never forget Rita, however, because I was there, not to witness it but to pick up the pieces afterwards.

HURRICANE RITA AND THE RED CROSS

Shortly after Rita, the Society for Human Resource Management, of which I was a member, reached out for volunteers to assist the Red Cross. I felt it was my duty to volunteer. Soon, I found myself flying to Washington, D.C., for training and then back to Houston to receive my assignment. Having lived and worked in Houston, I declined a position in the Bayou City and headed to the Ford Convention Center in Beaumont, Texas, in the rental car I was provided. My assignment—manage the Red Cross Volunteers stationed in Beaumont.

HURRICANE RITA AND THE BEAUMONT THEATER

The operation was truly remarkable. After arriving around October 10, 2005, I grabbed an air mattress and set up my home (suitcase and sleeping bag) on the convention center floor with the other volunteers. Other organizations and agencies besides the Red Cross were set up there. The site provided laundry service, doctors, and the Forest Service cooked meals worthy of firefighters.

Fortunately, the site had electricity and, most importantly, air conditioning. Basically, I worked from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and then hit my air mattress, exhausted.

I soon realized that the Red Cross had depleted its main cadre of volunteers due to Katrina and was recruiting and training new volunteers as quickly as possible. We were all new to the disaster business, which made the human resource function more challenging.

HURRICANE RITA—BRIDGING THE CULTURAL GAP

The first thing I learned was that the natives did not like the Red Cross volunteers. Quickly, I realized why. Most of the volunteers were Yankees, and they didn’t know how to talk and act Texan. I  developed a new volunteer orientation that ran nightly as volunteers arrived.

ME:  Y’all. This is Texas. You just don’t get down to business. You chew the fat a bit:

Hi. How you doing?

How’s the weather?

What about them Saints? (or Texans)

Then you can begin the interview for services.

Surprisingly, the volunteers reported that their interactions improved when they engaged in polite chit-chat.

Then,  I had to tackle the drug issue.

ME: OK, y’all. This is Texas, and we don’t take too kindly to marijuana smoking.

In fact, one young volunteer was picked up for smoking a joint. I promised the sheriff that if they did not charge him, I would have him out of Texas before dark. The deputy agreed, and I kept my promise.

Oh, and I had to send a group of volunteers home for drinking on the job.

HURRICANE RITA—A TRIP TO JASPER

Then, I landed in the middle of a big fricking mess. A volunteer who was stationed in Jasper accused the Red Cross of discrimination and complained to county officials. Because Jasper had been the scene of the horrific, racially motivated killing of James Byrd Jr. in 1998, county officials were frantic to ensure no discrimination was occurring.

I spent two and a half days onsite trying to figure out Ku Klux Klan (KKK) threats and alleged stolen luggage. While I was there, a threat to shoot Red Cross workers came in over the telephone.

During my tenure with the EEOC, our territory encompassed all of southeast Texas, and over the ten years I worked there, no one reported issues with the terrorist organization. Furthermore, several women who appeared to be LGBTQ were volunteering there with the Red Cross and told me they were having no issues.

The electricity was just beginning to come on in the area, and there were no hotels or restaurants open. I finally crashed at a church where the Red Cross volunteers were staying. There, I managed to get a bite of food and sleep on a musty mattress on the floor.

Witnesses reported that the Accuser had been complaining of discrimination from the first day she arrived in Texas. I was never able to substantiate her complaints.

Lastly, the Red Cross received a bomb threat about the time my two-week tour was ending and moved out of the Ford Center.

HURRICANE RITA—FINAL THOUGHTS

At least my life has not been boring.

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