“Hope can be given.”

I felt a sense of team accomplishment after volunteering at the Haitian Resource Center at the Brooklyn Armory for the past few weeks. Knowing that we helped the evacuees and their families to get immediate resources—clothing, food—as well as setting them on to a path for longer-term recovery made a difference in their lives and in ours. The team members I worked with were diverse in background and experience, but we all had one mission: to assist those who came to the Red Cross. In a time of tragedy, we made sure our clients felt they had support. Sometimes it was just to tell their story, to know that people really cared about them. It’s a reminder that in times of extreme sorrow, some compassion can be felt, and hope can be given.

–Amelia Hennighausen, Brooklyn