Special to The Telegram

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Daniela Gamez, 9, talks to Red Cross volunteer Doris Lewis and Red Cross board chairman Ralph Rojas as they coordinate their efforts at the Labrador Apartments after an August storm damaged the complex. Also pictured is Litzy Gamez, 4.

Your life is normal.

Theirs isn't. Not now.

They're going through a crisis, a fire, or a natural disaster.

They need help.

In steps American Red Cross volunteers like Dani Becker.

They're there at the fire, helping the elderly man who has lost everything find clothes to wear.

They're there after the storm, serving meals at an emergency shelter.

They're out in the community, educating families and individuals about disaster kits and emergency plans.

Becker is on the Disaster Action Team, or DAT, for the Garden City Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.

It's an area in which Director Carolyn Henry said she could use more volunteers.

Becker, also a child development specialist with Russell Child Development Center and a coordinator for USD 457's Parents as Teachers program, said she started volunteering because she wanted to do something different with her life. Her husband, Corey, recommended volunteering for the Red Cross.

They volunteer together, taking the Red Cross pager once a month.

She said people don't realize the amount of collaboration that takes place among entities and businesses in times of need.

She remembers one case in which Garden City USD 457 helped transport evacuated apartment tenants to hotels, while the hospital provided the group with a meal.

"It's just amazing the amount of things you can get coordinated in a short amount of time by all different agencies working together," Becker said.

Whether donating time, like Becker, or money through donations or the United Way, Henry said every bit helps because the Red Cross is one that operates nearly completely through donations.

The Garden City chapter received $30,000 this fiscal year from the United Way, she said, about 19 percent of the total budget.

"We couldn't do it without the local funding we receive," she said.

And what they do created an unusual number of national headlines this last year, with tornadoes destroying nearby towns of Greensburg and Holly, Colo.

"It makes my stomach just flip, thinking here we are, the one right in the middle," Henry said.

Last winter's ice storm and the August wind storm also put Red Cross volunteers to work, setting up shelters and helping those in need, she said.

"It's just been a crazy, crazy year for the Red Cross, specifically our chapter," Henry said.

This year in Finney County, the chapter has:

n helped 33 local families after disasters, including home fires;

n made 86 Armed Forces Emergency Services contacts, communication between families at home and their loved ones serving in the military;

n provided 2,405 people with disaster education;

n taught 1,600 in health and safety courses, including First Aid and CPR;

n taught about 1,000 in various aquatics programs.

The Garden City Area chapter covers 18 counties and has outreach offices in Dodge City and Liberal. The offices are administered from the Garden City office.

Henry said the chapters combined in recent years to better serve the area.

"Working together we had a better response," she said. "It's been a win-win situation for all of us."

Henry said the Red Cross might get headlines for responding after disasters, but it gets miles out of its prevention efforts, including educational classes and materials.

Red Cross outreach efforts wouldn't be successful without the willingness and sacrifice of volunteers, she said -- volunteers like the Beckers.

For the Beckers, responding to someone else's emergency is a family affair.

Mom and dad rush to the aid of someone in crisis. The children help take care of one another. For the next several minutes, someone else is more important.

"You're just giving a piece of yourself away to someone who is really in need, and that's very rewarding," Becker said.

The United Way's annual fundraising drive, with a goal of $550,000, ends Nov. 1.

In addition to the Red Cross, the United Way assists the following agencies: Finney County Retired & Volunteer Program Inc.; Garden City Family YMCA; Russell Child Development Center; Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association; United Methodist Mexican American Ministries Clinic; United Cerebral Palsy of Kansas; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Finney County; Community Day Care; Girl Scouts of Tumbleweed Council; Kansas Children's Service League Head Start; Santa Fe Trail Council Boy Scouts; Smart Start; Youthscape; Catholic Social Service; Emmaus House; Family Crisis Services Inc.; Spirit of the Plains, CASA Inc.; The Salvation Army; and Meals on Wheels.