Throughout her week in the south as a Katrina volunteer, Annie Trowbridge, ARC/GNY's Assistant Director of Special Events, was amazed at the kindness, ingenuity and strength of character of the people she met at her postings, from Montgomery, Alabama to Columbus and West Point, Mississippi.

Annie flew down to Birmingham on Saturday, September 10. From there, she drove a rental car to Montgomery, Alabama, where she and about 50 other volunteers spent the night at an old K-Mart building that had been converted into a Red Cross base of operations. While there, Annie helped to organize boxes of donated items and to clean and reorganize the shelter to accommodate the 250-plus volunteers who were expected the following night.

Because there were no showers at the K-Mart, Annie and the other volunteers were thrilled when some Texans showed up with a semi tractor trailer truck that they"d converted into a shower truck. "They said their truck, with its six showers and three washers and dryers, was better than another shower truck they’d seen. They were so proud of their creation. It was really something to see their inventiveness,” said Annie.

Monday afternoon Annie was driven to Columbus, Mississippi, about 300 miles north of the coast. There, she helped to service evacuees from Bay Saint Louis and Waveland, Mississippi, two Gulf Coast towns ravaged by Katrina. Annie, members of the nearby Air Force Parachute Jumping School and a group of convicts from a local minimum-security prison toiled side by side in the abysmal heat and humidity, unloading three tractor trailers from Canada filled with boxes of donated clothing and toiletries.

At the time, Annie had no idea she was working with convicts. “We were all so sweaty that I didn’t notice that their shirts all said Property of the State on them.  The officer in charge was unloading trucks too, so I thought he was a volunteer. They were actually nice and very helpful.”

Annie said her most fulfilling experience in Columbus was helping a woman and her two girls. While the woman looked for supplies, Annie spent a couple of hours helping the children find shoes, clothes and toys and later, helped their mom fill up her car with food, toiletries and other necessities.

Mid-week, Annie was posted to nearby West Point, Mississippi. There, the Red Cross had taken over a shelter at a civic center set up by local volunteers. They did so after some locals had tried to take advantage of evacuees.

The civic center was closed, and Annie helped some of the shelter’s two hundred and forty evacuees move and get settled into nearby Mary Holmes College, which had been closed for a number of years.

At Mary Holmes, local churches and community organizations served three meals a day to evacuees and Red Cross volunteers. Annie was touched by their kindheartedness. “We felt as if we were being served at a restaurant,” she said. “They treated us as if we were very special.”

Despite the heat, humidity, hard work and sometimes primitive living conditions, Annie says she would do it all again. And she’s in awe of the residents of the Gulf. “It’s amazing how helpful and resilient people were considering what they’ve been through,” she said.