“You can come back”: Madison volunteer who rode out hurricanes at Red Cross shelters flies to Texas to help others recover

By Justin Kern, American Red Cross

Angela Oakley is no stranger to emergency sheltering during a hurricane.

Oakley remembers days as a teenager spent riding out a hurricane in a shelter near her childhood home in South Carolina. In 2018, she travailed flood waters left behind from Hurricane Florence to reconnect with her husband and gather assistance from a shelter site after they “lost everything that [they] had.”

It’s precisely because of those hurricanes that Oakley moved with her family to Madison, Wisc. last year. And it’s her fortitude and compassion from those hurricanes that found her on a flight first-thing Wednesday morning – this time, as a mass care and sheltering volunteer with the American Red Cross.

Angela Oakley readies for her flight in Madison to Texas for her first deployment, to help people affected by Hurricane Laura.

“I’m proof that there is still life after disasters. You can come back,” Oakley said.

On Wednesday, Aug. 26, Oakley joined three other volunteers from Wisconsin converging on Texas and the Gulf Coast ahead of landfall by Hurricane Laura. It was Oakley’s first in-person disaster deployment, work she said she’s “drawn to,” given her personal background mixed and her past 10 months of Red Cross preparations.

“I know I’m going to do something I’m trained for, I know I’m with an organization that has done this a million times,” she said. “And you’ve got to have some faith, because I know the people there are going to need the help. So that’s where I need to be.”

Click here for the latest from the American Red Cross on resources, assistance and ways you can help with Hurricane Laura.

In February 2019, she moved with family to the Midwest, into a home that includes her husband, teenage daughter and pets in Madison. By that fall, she had signed up as a Red Cross volunteer, like the ones she remembered after Hurricane Hugo, along with Florence and others. Initial volunteer roles involved client casework on the disaster team and welcoming donors at blood collection site in her new hometown.

Then, last month, she was deployed virtually, in Texas, as it turns out, to get families back up on their feet after Hurricane Hanna drenched parts of the state. Oakley said she was prepared for the role of providing assistance and working with people through the day-to-day challenges from protracted flooding. She wasn’t quite ready for the appreciation people shared back with her.

“To see that fear, that anxiety, that uncertainty turn around, and then you can see hope build … and then you get thanks, gratitude. I was in tears, it was so rewarding,” she said Tuesday evening.

Wisconsin volunteers were among approximately 2,000 Red Cross disaster team members on the ground or assisting remotely as Hurricane Laura approached. In the week leading up to landfall, the Red Cross was busy arranging supplies, sheltering needs and more for people affected by Laura, which had strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane by Wednesday afternoon.

You can support our response and relief for people affected by this hurricane and other disasters in two ways. First – we are always looking for talented, compassionate people to volunteer, both in person and virtually, in myriad ways. Find a volunteer opportunity that fits your passion and lifestyle today at redcross.org/volunteer. Second – the mass movement of humanitarian help and the people who provide it happens because of the generosity of people like you. Your donations make this assistance possible for people in crisis. On behalf of everyone helped during Hurricane Laura and other disasters this year, thank you for your kind gift.

Grateful for support after apartment fire and more, a Burlington mother is determined to “succeed”

By Justin Kern, American Red Cross

Heather Wilke admits she’s had to “fight like hell” during points of her life. Whether it was lousy jobs years ago or a patch without steady housing after her time in the Army, the Burlington mother hasn’t always had it easy.

But with some support and her daughters by her side, she’s determined to “succeed” and make a life of helping others – even after last week’s apartment building fire that displaced her family and their pets from their home.

Heather Wilke, center, with her daughters Kayla, left, and Loretta, plus their dog, Louie, all at a Burlington hotel provided by the Red Cross after an apartment building fire last week.

That support of late has come in part from the American Red Cross, as Wilke and her daughters Kayla, 15, and Loretta, 12, plus their rambunctious dog, Louie, join 24 other people sheltering at a Burlington hotel.

As the Wilke family came down to grab lunch on Wednesday, Heather shared her backstory and how she plans to help veterans or victims of domestic violence after her upcoming final year at UW-Parkside. And she expressed gratitude for everyone who has helped her and her family after last Thursday’s fire that has kept them from their home.

“All the representatives from the Red Cross have been very helpful and very kind,” Wilke said.

“I make sure to thank them for taking the time out of their schedules. It’s a big thing they’re doing, coming here two times a day at least and helping us all out. It’s an honorable thing to do.”

On the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 13, a fire in a Burlington apartment complex put out more than 50 people from dozens of units. About half of those residents have been housed in emergency lodging at a hotel by the Red Cross, as restoration efforts continue at the apartment complex. Recovery work with residents on next steps continues, including help from agencies in Racine County like Southern Lakes Area Love Inc.

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Your generosity powers the humanitarian work of the Red Cross. Please consider a gift to help families in need with emergency food, shelter, health resources and compassion.

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On the day-to-day side of things, disaster volunteers with the Southeast Chapter of the Red Cross have provided twice-daily meal deliveries to the hotel, including a tasty recent dinner donated by Napoli Restaurant and Pizzeria. On Tuesday, volunteers Cindy and Pat Cain made a very Wisconsin type of meal delivery, packing lunches into the storage compartments of their three-wheel Harley Davidson.

Red Cross volunteer Kevin Connell loads up lunches for delivery to 24 residents of a Burlington apartment building presently staying at a hotel after a fire.

The next day, it was Kevin Connell, loading up his truck with individually packaged submarine sandwiches and water from a nearby grocery store, then bringing meals into the hotel via the luggage cart. Families trickled in around noon, and Kevin asked them and hotel staff about their days, light-hearted small talk. Connell said he’s had a few conversations with his daughter recently about his drive to volunteer with the Red Cross, and the range of people he’s met in the past year on the disaster team. Spending the extra time in the hotel lobby to greet people displaced by this fire during lunch – even if it is a few feet apart with a mask on – makes for important interpersonal connections in a trying time, Connell said.

“If I can be here, this is where I want to be,” he said.

Connell and others have been there for Wilke and the residents of this Burlington residential building. Before lunch on Wednesday, Wilke shared that it’s not the first time she’s had help from the Red Cross.

Wilke enlisted in the Army not too long after watching the World Trade Center towers fall on television. Before she left for boot camp, she held out hope that her grandmother, ill with emphysema, would be well enough so they could spend time together before Wilke’s next assignment. Unfortunately, while in basic training, she got a “Red Cross message” that her grandmother had passed away. Wilke was extremely appreciative for that assistance in being able to attend her grandmother’s funeral. She even recalled a humorous moment as that message was initially delivered to her by a tough-as-nails commanding officer.

“My drill sergeant called on me and said, ‘Private! I don’t care what you do, but do not cry.’ I instantly started crying because I knew what was going to happen … He was amazing, but he couldn’t console, he was my drill sergeant.”

Your generosity makes sure people receive the help they need from the Red Cross, whether in military service or in times of disaster. Thank you for considering a gift to the Red Cross to help people in need.