MIDLAND With this past weekend’s tornadoes bringing destruction all over Kentucky, the Permian Basin chapter of the American Red Cross has been helping out, with one of its volunteers being deployed this week to assist people who have been affected by the storm.
Volunteer Shane Bell will be sent out to the Midwest and will be there between two-three weeks.
Possibly joining him could be Ed Duchac who is on standby at the moment.
“Usually a deployment is between two and three weeks,” Executive Director of the Permian Basin Red Cross Chapter Tracy Austin said. “Then we have other volunteers to sign up and deploy because when that first shift comes off, we’ll need to replace them and this will be several months of sheltering and feeding and organizing. There’s a lot of need for volunteers to go and help out.”
Austin said that there are about 100 volunteers over at the Permian Basin Red Cross chapter.
“It’s possible that our emergency response vehicle could be called out to serve there as well,” Austin said. “We are asking people for donations because that’s the fastest way to get help to the people that are affected by the storms. We ask people to go to 1-800 Red Cross or to redcross.org and click ‘donate’ because that’s the fastest way we can buy blankets, cots, food, all of the things that we need and comfort kits to take care of people that have lost everything.”
Bell was on standby earlier this week before getting called on Wednesday.
Bell, who is a Midland native that works for Sodexo, is currently on Christmas vacation which allows him to be available to help out in Kentucky before returning back to work.
“I’ll leave this week because of the two week commitment and my job,” Bell said. “I have to be off for the holidays and be deployed if needed since I don’t need to be home for the holidays.”
When out on call with the Red Cross, Bell works as an instructor who teaches people how to shelter and first aid training.
“The field training is part of staff services and part of what we do is we help all the volunteers and workers that work on the job,” Bell said. “Then we also train volunteers that come in from the area that want to help and lend a hand. We’ll train them and get them matched up with wherever needs to be helped. They offer additional training for volunteers that are there. We help them get the training that they need and get them into a class that they may be missing for stuff like promotions. We schedule classes at the event while they’re there so they can come in and get training that they may not get on a regular basis.”
Austin says that Duchac usually works as a logistics supervisor when out on call.
Bell has been volunteering for the Red Cross for 31 years now and started when he was in the Boy Scouts.
“What it’s about is being able to help someone in need,” Bell said. “Over the years, I’ve met people on the worst days of their lives,” Bell said. “It’s either a house fire or the tornado wind storm back in 2020 near Orla. Things like that. You’re there when someone needs someone to come in and help and they don’t know what to do next.”
When Bell first heard about the tornadoes in Kentucky, he was reminded of another disaster that struck West Texas back in 1987 when the town of Saragosa was struck by a tornado.
“The first thing when I saw it that I thought of was Saragosa,” Bell said. “I was a kid when that tornado hit and it was devastating. There was little notice. It was at night. The little warnings you get with tornados are enough for you to take shelter but in a mass storm like this, the swath of damage and the amount of people affected can be overwhelming for everyone involved (like) the cities, the counties, the states, even the response teams like the Red Cross and Salvation Army. It’s such a big event because it’s spread across so many miles that the logistics involved is insurmountable. All volunteers like us will step up to get the job done.”
With the exception of this week, Bell says that most of his deployments have taken place in Texas, mostly because of his work schedule.
“Most of my deployments have been local with the exception of Hurricane Harvey where that was a statewide thing,” Bell said. “Most of my deployments have been local. Due to my work schedule, I don’t go out deployed because of the 14-day requirement for my position. But I happen to be on vacation from work so I told them that if they need me, I can head out that way.”
Austin said she is glad that the Permian Basin Red Cross has been able to help out.
“This is why I do this job,” Austin said. “I know that we can, affectively, alleviate human suffering and prepare people for disasters. When something like this happens, we call the first responders and they go in and take care of people and the second responders take care of people who have lost everything, so for me, this is why I do this job because I know I can make a difference in their lives and help alleviate their suffering.”
She said that the Permian Basin Red Cross is always looking for more volunteers.
“We always need volunteers because you never know when something like this is going to happen,” Austin said. “When we have trained volunteers, it’s so much easier to have people who can respond after something happens and train people up so they can help in times like this.”
Those who are interested in donating or volunteering with the Permian Basin Red Cross can do so at tinyurl.com/2yj2jr2j.
