23913 posts 11/3/2012 6:49 am
Last Read:
11/3/2012 5:50 pm
|
Sandy
 D   ]
One of 10 Canadians leaving Saturday morning for the storm-ravaged New York area to offer aid, Susan MacKenzie has no idea what to expect.
Volunteer work in the wake of disaster has been the 59-year-old Calgary woman’s life for the better part of the last decade — including 11 weeks spent in Slave Lake after wildfire decimated the northern Alberta town — but she told the Sun each situation is different.
“Even if you think you’re prepared, you really have to take it as it comes,” MacKenzie said.
“You never get used to it.”
The American Red Cross requested help from its Canadian counterpart, after hurricane Sandy left parts of New York and New Jersey a wreck, flooding subways and streets, destroying homes and killing more than a hundred people.
MacKenzie is scheduled to board a plane at Calgary International Airport, and after arrival she’ll spend the following 21 days putting her skills to use in Newark, providing food and shelter services for those left displaced.
“Whatever comes up in the shelter area … tending to people’s basic needs,” MacKenzie told the Sun.
“Sometimes just listening goes a very long way,” she said, adding the emotional recovery from disaster scenarios is just as big a challenge as the physical recovery.
Her own emotions will be a challenge to keep in check as well, she expects.
“Your heart just goes out to the people that have been affected,” she said.
After retiring, MacKenzie became a full-time volunteer, rededicating herself to the<b> philosophy </font></b>she’s held her entire adult life: Any time you have an opportunity to give back, you do it.
Most recently her work has been with the Red Cross, where she floats between her beginnings in fund development, disaster management and anything in between.
She figures she’s one small part of what will be a huge relief effort.
“It’s not something that’s going to be fixed quickly,” she said.
MacKenzie said those at home also have just as big a role to play.
She asks that everyone who can should give generously to the Red Cross, which can be done through the organization’s website
See there are good people in this world.
If you can donate. Please do. They need our help.
|
This is not meant to offend any one in any way.
 
  
|
50414 posts 11/3/2012 5:50 pm |
Quoting sexysixties2:
It's true the devastation it has left in its' wake is appalling! 
Yes love it was.
This is not meant to offend any one in any way.
|
39750 posts 11/3/2012 1:47 pm |
It's true the devastation it has left in its' wake is appalling!
"Age does not protect you from love, but love, to some extent, protects you from age."
~~Anais Nin~~
|
50414 posts 11/3/2012 7:05 am |
That was good of the monkeys to let that this go thru. I never thought they would.
This is not meant to offend any one in any way.
|
