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Red Cross volunteer sees faces of hope By Paul Fattig Christiana Barnett has trudged through the mud left by the ravages of Hurricane Floyd after it slammed into the eastern seaboard last month. She has seen families who have lost their homes and incomes. She has seen the lonely look of despair and hurt. But the American Red Cross volunteer who returned this week from Virginia, where she spent three weeks helping victims, has also seen goodness rise out of the devastation. "There were people on crutches, people who just had surgery, helping other people," she said. "Neighbors joined together. They were so willing to help each other." Barnett, 53, of Central Point, volunteers as a mass care specialist working out of the organization's Rogue Valley Chapter headquarters in Medford. She and fellow volunteer Josie Sundell of Selma, who represents the group's Josephine County chapter, were among four volunteers from Oregon who drove two Red Cross emergency response vehicles to Virginia to help victims in that flooded state. While there, they served meals, distributed cleaning supplies, moved supplies and helped in emergency kitchens sponsored by Southern Baptist churches. Red Cross volunteers serve for three-week stints at natural disasters. "People were so thankful, so full of gratitude," said Barnett, an artist and businesswoman who serves as a volunteer firefighter. "They kept saying, `Please tell the folks back home how much we appreciate this,"' she added. "I met some of the most wonderful people. They were so ready and willing to help." While in Virginia, Barnett and Sundell worked with other volunteers from Oregon in several devastated towns in Virginia. "These people lost everything: their clothes, their refrigerators, their food," Barnett said. "Once the area has been contaminated, just about everything is ruined. Then, when the water recedes, they are faced with cleanup. "They have to sterilize everything. They have to get vaccinations. But it was getting done. The work I saw in the wake of Hurricane Floyd was really impressive." Barnett became a Red Cross volunteer after her husband had a severe accident while cutting a tree limb on their property two years ago. She decided to brush up on her emergency response classes she had taken in years past. The act of people helping each other is what made the nation strong, she observed. "We need to get back into that national neighborhood feeling that our forefathers had," said Barnett, a native of Southern Oregon. "There are so many things we can do to prepare for the next disaster," she said. "It will happen, whether it is forest fire, flooding, ice storm or snowstorm. It will happen. We just have to be prepared." Come the next disaster, Barnett plans to be there along with other Red Cross volunteers. "I've already volunteered for November if I'm needed," she said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA