Published: September 20, 2008 01:42 am            

PEOPLE PROFILE: Diane Sargent, Red Cross volunteer

TOWN OF LOCKPORT — After each hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall on U.S. soil, hundreds of volunteers from the American Red Cross make their way to disaster-hit areas to help.

One of those volunteers is Diane Sargent of Lockport, who recently returned from areas hit by Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav.

Sargent has been working with the Red Cross since she first saw them in action in New York City, just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I was amazed at the work that they were doing,” she said. “I always thought that the Red Cross was just blood. I had no idea.”

When she returned home, she hooked up with the local Red Cross Disaster Action Team, which responds to fire scenes and assists families in emergency situations.

From there, she went national. Now, through her Red Cross affiliation, Sargent travels to disaster zones throughout the country, whether it’s wildfires in California, flooding in the Midwest, or hurricanes in the Southeast.

This year, she’s helped in zones hit by Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav, working in a damage assessment team.

“We go out and we assess neighborhoods and areas for where help is going to be needed, where things need to be set up and services brought in,” she said. “We’re the first ones to be out there. Usually the first ones in, the first ones out.”

She was in Florida last month, helping with relief for Fay, when Gustav hit. She was transferred to New Orleans, where she helped assess damage in the bayou region.

“Some parts are nice and some parts are not,” she said. “There was a lot of wind damage, and of course then Ike hit, so there was a lot of water damage in the same area. They kind of got a double whammy there.”

Through her relief work, Sargent said, she’s met “some of the nicest people.”

“We’ve become like a family,” she said. “After a while, you see some of the same people, and it’s like old friends again.”

She said they get people of all ages and backgrounds, of all income and education levels.

“There’s a lot of people from all different walks that are there,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what your physical abilities are, there’s always something that needs to be done that anybody and everybody can help out.”

The volunteers sometimes live in tight conditions, in shelters provided by the Red Cross or other organizations. Sargent recalls being in one shelter for a week, sleeping in an old gym with other volunteers, on cots 6 inches apart from each other.

They ate military-style “Meals, Ready to Eat,” also known as field rations. There were no showers at first, until a portable shower was brought in, with only cold water.

For Sargent and the other volunteers, though, there was no complaining.

“Some of these people are living like this for weeks and weeks,” she said. “I can’t imagine how stressful that is.”

By the time Sargent came home from New Orleans on Friday, there was already a call into the Red Cross that she was needed for Hurricane Ike relief. She’s taking a couple days to relax before deciding whether to go back out.

“Ike’s going to go on for a long time. It’s a mess there,” she said. “With everything on the news, with the stock market and the presidential stuff, nobody’s thinking of Ike anymore, but there’s so many people out there that still need so much help.”

The Red Cross covers the costs for relief volunteers’ travel and lodging, and volunteers get debit cards for food and gas.

Disaster relief costs money, and the Red Cross relies greatly on donations, Sargent said.

“It’s really important that people don’t forget to make donations to the Red Cross. They’re in dire need,” she said. “(The money) is going to help people.”

She said she hopes more people will volunteer their time, as well.

“We need a lot of help, not just nationally, but locally,” she said. “The staff in Lockport are terrific people, and they give their heart and soul to the Red Cross, but they can’t do it without volunteers.”

Locally, the Disaster Action Team always needs help, assisting victims of fires with immediate needs like food, clothing and shelter.

“They’re out in the street, all sooty and black from a fire, and they’ve lost everything,” Sargent said. “The women don’t even have their purses with them for money or ID or anything.”

To volunteer, she said, all a person needs is the ability to talk to people.

“You don’t need to be physical. You don’t need to be old or young, or anything, you just need that heart to help people, and that’s all,” she said.

Sargent, who grew up in the City of Tonawanda, has lived in the Town of Lockport with her husband, Doug, for 24 years.

“He is totally supportive of everything that I do,” she said. “He doesn’t like that I’m gone, but he’s so supportive of it.”

Together, they own Sargent Roofing. Their two daughters, Laura and Maggie, now live in the Carolinas.

She works at the Erie County SPCA and fosters dogs in her home.

Sargent said her love for the Niagara region has grown as she’s traveled all over the country.

“No matter where I have gone, wherever I have been, there is not a nicer place than Western New York,” she said. “This is such a beautiful area. We have a few months of cold weather, but it’s nothing compared to what other people have to put up with.”

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.