ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 2, 1996 TAG: 9601030035
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY
They forge bonds, these people, not unlike soldiers who rely on each other in times of war.
When they're not on duty, they station themselves in front of the TV, glued to the Weather Channel. In homes all over the Roanoke area and the United States, they wait for disaster to strike.
While the rest of us note headlines and news stories about faraway places being torn apart by natural disasters, these people throw their stuff in suitcases and catch a plane.
While the rest of us barely notice that 1995 hosted the worst hurricane season on record - with 20 strikes, including extra-hard hits by Erin, Opal and Marilyn - these people saw the devastations firsthand.
One day back in May, Roanoke's Reba Thomas was slathered in sunscreen on Myrtle Beach. The next day she was trudging through the flooded, carpet-strewn streets of New Orleans organizing Red Cross service centers.
A janitorial-service owner, Thomas put her life - and vacation - on hold. She traded her real-life duties for volunteer clean-up service during the chaotic Louisiana floods.
There she stayed, in the thick of the disaster, for 64 days.
And there, she says, she healed.
``I'd had a bad experience in my personal life, and I needed something to fill the void in my heart,'' she says. ``A friend of mine had started [Red Cross volunteering] a year before, and he said this was just what I needed.
``He was right.''
Before becoming a Red Cross worker, Thomas volunteered at an area nursing home. ``But the people cried every time I left, and I wanted to take 'em all home with me. It was really getting to me.''
To honor the 30 area volunteers who answered the hazard-duty calls of 1995, the Roanoke Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross held a recent reception to recognize the year's ``Season of Storms.''
``Sometimes disaster volunteers need to get together with others to talk; it can be a real mental health strain,'' said Terri Jones, communications director for the local chapter. ``Here, we have an ice storm and go without power for two days, and we think we're ready to die.
``But these people have really gone through some hardships. Sometimes it's cathartic to get everybody back together.''
By the time Marilyn struck St. Thomas Island in September, Reba Thomas was hooked on the adrenaline high of working amid chaos. She packed another suitcase and flew - one of the airplanes had duct-taped wings - to the Virgin Islands.
There she stayed 52 days.
There she learned not to fret over going without makeup or hair spray.
There she learned to sleep on floors, cots, even the beach.
``It was scary,'' she says. ``My second day there, we took a Jeep all over the island so I could figure out the routing, and we had to move telephone poles, tin, wood and trash - just to drive.
``About every 30 minutes, I had to stop and cry.''
Volunteer Fred Dooley, a retired postal-service worker, recalls being asked by a gathering of people at a St. John's fruit stand how to operate a Coleman stove. ``They were given these things but they had no idea how to work them,'' he says.
``So right there at the fruit stand I held an impromptu class in what kind of fuel to use and how to operate them,'' he says, recalling his earlier years as a Boy Scout.
``My favorite thing about Red Cross volunteering is you get there and it's chaos. And then you get to see people help themselves with a little bit of help from you,'' he says. ``People are so resourceful, it's amazing.''
Thomas is so hooked on disasters, she sold her house and got an apartment - so she'd have less space to manage from afar the next time disaster calls.
She likes to recite, at the end of each duty, a saying she heard from another volunteer: ``Now it's time to leave your loved ones and go home to your family and friends.''
The Red Cross needs more volunteer assistants to serve both locally and far away; extensive training, provided free by the Red Cross, is required. Call Carol Brown at 985-3553 for more information.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Roger Hart. Reba Thomas and Fred Dooley are Red Crossby CNBdisaster volunteers. color.