"Did I tell you about the hugs?” said Michael Koerner, his tone upbeat. “You've got to hear about the hugs.” He was describing his first day in Slidell, Louisiana as a Red Cross Katrina volunteer. It was also his first day working in a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle, or ERV, and the last day the ERV made this particular run.

 “Everyone on the ERV was very helpful, very positive, telling me what to do, walking me through the process of serving meals, giving me pointers,” he said. “We served 375 meals for lunch that day and 350 meals for dinner—that"s an unbelievable amount of food. It’s meal after meal after meal, with endless droves of people coming up to the ERV.

“On the evening run,” he continued, “literally everyone out on the street came up to see us, whether they wanted food or not. They gave us Mardi Gras beads and cups, they took pictures, and they let us know how much they appreciated our help. And so many people gave us hugs. I know they weren’t seeing me, they saw the vest, the ERV, and all the Red Cross volunteers. These people were so grateful for what the Red Cross had done for them.

“They’d come to rely on the Red Cross, and now it was leaving this particular neighborhood,” Michael said. That was frustrating, he said, but also encouraging, because it meant that these people were back on their feet. “They had FEMA trailers, they had cars, and most had money so they could leave their homes and get food,” he explained.

This was Michael’s first time as a Red Cross Volunteer. A mechanical engineer who lives and works in New York City, he was in the midst of a job change around the time Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast.  He was thrilled when his new company, AKF Engineers, LLP, allowed him to push back his start date in order for him to volunteer. “They were very supportive, and had just made a company donation to further support the Katrina relief efforts.”

In late September, Michael applied to the Red Cross Disaster Service Human Resource (DSHR) program and went through all the training steps. When he wasn’t assigned right away, he got impatient. “I felt guilty pushing my start date at work back,” he said. So on a Friday morning, Michael hopped on the subway and came up to the New York headquarters to try to talk someone into sending him South, pronto.

It turned out that wasn’t yet possible, so while waiting to be assigned, Michael did the next best thing—he volunteered at the Red Cross Greater New York Chapter. Working in Staffing, Training, and Community Relations, he collated information, helped to organize spread sheets, and more. A few days later, he was told to stop work, go home, and pack his bags. He flew to the Red Cross staging area in Montgomery, Alabama the next morning.

From there, Michael and 28 other volunteers were ferried south by bus to Slidell. What they saw was disheartening. “There was debris everywhere,” he said. “Houses were shifted. Cars were in trees. Boats were up on land. There was a smell that I can’t even describe. You’d see dead fish inland, because they’d had three or four feet of floodwater. The fish were decaying in 85 degree heat.”

What’s more, he said, residents were ripping up and throwing out everything that was damaged in their homes. “This was about 80% of what they had—beds, TVs, dressers—everything. Most people were expecting to buy new stuff and live in their homes again.”

Michael remained in Slidell for the rest of his two week tour, jumping from route to route in the ERV. He also pitched in as “yard dog,” restocking shelves, moving pallets of food and helping to fill the ERVs with ice, chips, drinks, food—everything necessary for a run. He was later put back on ERV duty, “Because I knew the route and had to pass it on to someone new,” he said.

Would he volunteer again? Michael said he would, in a New York minute. “I feel that the American Red Cross is a fantastic organization. It is made up of amazing group of people, 95% of which are volunteers.  Seeing where the ARC spends its money, on the people who need help, I encourage everyone I know to donate.” he said. “I’m trying to volunteer again here in New York. And whenever anybody asks me about the Red Cross I tell them donate, it’s well worth it.”