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Eagle photo by Gabriel Chmielewski
Red Cross volunteers Mike Hartley load an Emergency Response Vehicle with food at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in College Station to prepare for evacuees from Hurricane Ike at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in College Station.
By JANET PHELPS
Danya Hatley was at Veterans Park on Friday, directing evacuees to shelters, but she was thinking about her family in Beaumont.
Hatley's parents and other relatives evacuated last week under the threat of Hurricane Gustav, she said, but chose to ride out Hurricane Ike.
Without her family in town, she said, the next-best thing was volunteering. Helping others find safety made her feel better about her family in Beaumont, the 40-year-old Bryan-College Station Convention and Visitors Bureau employee said.
"I kind of feel like I'm helping them by helping these people here," she said.
With no available hotel rooms in Bryan-College Station, Hatley and several of her co-workers headed to Veterans Park to help people find shelter.
The group was involved in an effort to help the more than 3,000 people who came to Bryan-College Station to escape the storm.
Although the local response has been tremendous, volunteer coordinator Rick Dysart said, more volunteers are needed.
"I hope we get some more people, because we're going to have these [evacuees] here for quite a while," he said.
Residents who want to volunteer are asked to sign up at http://standingready.com. People who register their available hours and training or skills online will have access to a list of volunteer opportunities.
More than 300 people have signed up in the past two days, bringing the number of volunteers in the Brazos Valley Council of Governments' registry to more than 1,000.
Although only about 100 volunteers have been deployed, Dysart said, more are needed for tasks such as organizing volunteers, providing transportation for special-needs patients and walking dogs at the small-animal shelter.
Medical volunteers are also needed, he said.
No offer of help will be turned down.
Local officials said residents could also contact churches that are housing evacuees.
Seated at picnic tables at an intake site at Veterans Park on Friday, volunteers offered water and food to weary evacuees who had arrived in College Station with their families, luggage and pets.
Among them was Heather Reece, the Convention and Visitors Bureau's manager of communications and public relations.
"It's very rewarding to just be able to help these people," Reece said. "If you can give them a smile and a happy face, it just makes you feel good."
A shelter at First Baptist Church in Bryan, where Cheryl Miears was volunteering, was at capacity Friday.
Miears, who owns Merle Norman Cosmetics in Post Oak Mall, signed up to help the American Red Cross during Gustav.
"When people are hurting, they need to be touched," she said. "For me, it's about giving hugs away and receiving hugs."
After just one day, she said, the people in the shelter were like family.
"That's the whole point: for them to walk away, go home and say, 'Wow, I was at home in a bad situation,'" she said.
School was canceled Friday for Bryan High student Ashley McCarley, but the 17-year-old stayed busy shuttling between shelters at her school and First Baptist Church.
McCarley aimed to make the atmosphere in the shelters so comfortable that people would be glad they didn't stay home through the storm. That way, she said, they won't be reluctant to evacuate next time.
"I love doing stuff like this," she said. "It's a life-changing experience -- putting yourself out there, dedicating your time to other people."
