When people think about the American Red Cross, many probably associate it with the numerous blood drives that the organization hosts. But collecting blood donations isn’t the only thing the group does.

The American Red Cross is one of the leading organizations that helps communities after a natural disaster strikes, and it provides relief with the help of volunteers like 71-year-old Hal Stronach.

The Buffalo Grove resident has been volunteering with the American Red Cross for the past six years and said the work has provided some of the most satisfying experiences of his life.

March is Red Cross Month, and to help promote the organization's services, Stronach went on the record with Lake County Journal reporter Stephanie N. Lehman to talk about what it's like to be deployed to disaster areas.

Lehman: When did you start volunteering for the American Red Cross?
Stronach: When Hurricane Katrina happened. And I think if you would check, there are an awful lot of people who started then. I mean, it was such a monumental event, people just felt, "I have to do something," and the day that I went to the Red Cross, they had to have police down there because there were so many people coming to the meeting to find out about it and to sign up … .

Lehman: I think a lot of people, when they think of the American Red Cross, think of people donating blood. What other services does the Red Cross offer that people may not think about?
Stronach: Well, on the local scene, they offer assistance to people in many different ways. They have shelters for people who have a fire in their condo or home or apartment where they can go and be fed and sleep and be taken care of for a day or two until they can make their own arrangements. They have training programs for people who are getting out of prison or jail or a situation; they work to get them back into society. They, of course, go to national disasters all over the country when [volunteers] are called and deployed. Now, those people have had to have a certain level of training so that they can go there and know what they're doing ... .

Lehman: Now, are you a trained individual?
Stronach: Yeah. The last time I was deployed was last summer when I went to Nashville for the floods down in [that] area.

Lehman: What did you do down there?
Stronach: We usually are deployed in a car with four people. And we went to – some in Nashville, but more in a northern county from there – where we processed claims for loss that they had in their homes from the flood.

Lehman: So, your volunteer work can take you all over, and you can do a lot of different things?
Stronach: A lot of different things. I've been deployed for hurricanes, floods, fires, [an] ice storm – several hurricanes, several floods. It's interesting to me that you arrive there with a whole bunch of strangers from all over the country, and you may team up with one or two people in renting a car … maybe four of you get together and you rent the car, and that's the last time you see them because they have other specialities. And then you're assigned to whatever you're going to do, and you're teamed up with four to six people, and you spend two weeks with them. And by the time you leave, you think you've known them forever, because you know them. You know about their family, what they did for a living – because a lot of them are retired – about their kids, about their grandkids, because you spend a lot of the time going and coming, and in the evenings, what are you going to do but go to dinner and talk. And so you find out a lot about each other, and it's very interesting.

Lehman: What do you enjoy the most about volunteering for the Red Cross?
Stronach: I think the satisfaction from helping somebody. You literally see that you have helped somebody. They come there with their children or their family and they have no place to sleep; they don't know where they're going to go get food, and we put them in a shelter. We feed them; we help them out by allowing them to pick clothing and stuff that they need. [The Red Cross] give[s] them the wherewith-all to kind of get started again. It's very satisfying.

Lehman: Is there a story that has been most touching to you that you've discovered while you've been volunteering?
Stronach: When they had the fires in San Diego a few years ago, or southern California, it wasn't just San Diego, we had a shelter at the racetrack … in San Diego, and we had a large Latino family come in. It was grandma and grandpa and a couple of families within that group, totaling maybe 16, 18 people.
Well, San Diego, they had people coming with trucks and cars and things to donate, and they donated everything from mattresses and box springs to blankets to clothes to shoes to furniture. And we told the people to go over to the place where it was displayed and see if there was anything there that they could use. And this whole group went over and they brought back a pair of pants, a top for one of the kids, maybe some sheets or something – very little – and we said, no no no, you can go over there and get some clothes for each one of you, not just a few of you, or one thing. It's there, you don't pay for it; it's been donated by your citizens of this area ... .

They were able to kind of really outfit themselves – not a whole wardrobe – but they at least had changes of clothes, underwear, sheets, pillow cases, maybe toys for the group of the kids, and they just were in heaven. Plus, they were eating and had a clean place to sleep. And they were safe. That's one of the big things, is they don't know where to go. A lot of people have family, so they go to their family. But these people had this group, and they had no place to go, and there were so many of them, they couldn't just go anywhere - they couldn't afford to pay for some place, so they stayed there. And they were so thankful to get something when they left.

Lehman: In the past five, six years, where have your travels taken you?
Stronach: Florida twice, Kansas, California twice, Tennessee [and] Texas.

Lehman: All two week deployments?
Stronach: Usually. The Texas trip was cut short ... . This was the follow up to [Hurricane] Rita, with the floods that took place down there. We got a bigger turnout I think than they expected and we were able to handle it quicker, so it wasn't two weeks. They don't keep you around doing nothing, so they send you home.

But when you get the phone call, they want you there within 24 hours of that phone call ... . It helps a lot being in Chicago, because they have so many flights and things that you can get to, and they may book you this real roundabout way, but they get you there within 24 hours. And you may arrive at 1 or 2 in the morning, and you meet a bunch of people and you get together [and say], "OK, there's four of us here, let's rent a car … ." So, you get the car, you drive to wherever – it may be a high school gym, it might be a motel, it could be a national guard armory, it could be anywhere you spend the first or second night. After that, you're farmed out to different areas ... .

Lehman: Do you have to pay for your flights or hotels?
Stronach: No, it's all done by the Red Cross. You just have to get there. And they take good care of you. You get fed, you get housed, you have a mode of transportation to take care of wherever you're working.

I'm also an [Emergency Response Vehicle] driver. It looks like an ambulance, but it's outfitted to serve food. So, I am an ERV driver. One of my most interesting trips was when we were in Kansas for an ice storm. And a lady from Minnesota was also an ERV driver. We would deliver food to the shelters in the area in the morning, and then lunch followed pretty closely – we would deliver lunch, too. And then we would go out and just drive around. And ... all the electricity was down, and in Kansas, things are very flat, so you'd see [workers] up on the poles. So, we'd drive there and give them sandwiches, something to drink, maybe a cookie or donut or something. It was fun, because as we got close, they'd all come scurrying down off the poles and get in line, becaue they didn't have time, and we'd give it out, and go on to the next one. That was, I shouldn't say fun, but it was. It was fun.

Lehman: Where do you think people would be after these disasters without the Red Cross? Where would the nation be?
Stronach: Well, I think the thing is, the country has kind of grown to expect that the Red Cross is going to be there. Other groups may be there, too, but the Red Cross is going to be there and they're going to help out. They're going to provide some kind of shelter, they're going to provide some kind of food and they're going to provide some other needs that they may have ... .

But another thing is it's safe, because any of these places, [the people] are out maybe on the street. They have children. Looting goes on in these places. And if they're in the wrong place when some looting is going on, they could be injured or killed. So, I think they feel safe when they're with the Red Cross.

Lehman: For the people who can't be deployed like you, those who have full time jobs, do you encourage people to help out the Red Cross in other ways?
Stronach: We have a lot of people who have jobs. You can always say no. You're called, and they want you to go out on a far call, or they want you to deliver cleanup kits for the floods in the Fox Valley. That's something that happens almost every spring here ... they can do that on Saturday and Sunday ... . And we have a lot of people who do that. Young people – we have Americorps young adults – they are tremendous. I think having a job and working doesn't preclude you from being an active Red Cross person. You don't be as active as the people who are regulars and are paid by the Red Cross, or like retired people who are ready at virutally any time to go on a call. I think if someone is interested, the Red Cross will find something for them to do.

Stronach lowdown

Who he is: Volunteer for the American Red Cross
Village of residence: Buffalo Grove
Family: Wife, Susan; two children, Stephen (Laura) and Douglas; and five grandchildren, Regina, 22, Brent, 21, Andria, 12, Stephen, 10, and David, 9
Favorite book: "The Devil In the White City" by Erik Larson
Hobbies: Gardening and volunteering