DECATUR — Evelyn Easterling of Decatur has lived a life of adventure following her passion for helping others during the many years she volunteered for the American Red Cross.
She has traveled across the country and seen the devastation brought on by wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and even the September 11 terrorist attacks, and during that time she has been able to reach out a helping hand to thousands of people.
Easterling, who is 81 yearsold, began working with the Red Cross in 1983 when she and her late husband volunteered with the local Lions Club in Liberty, Texas, during a flood. She worked along side the Red Cross during the flood and soon became involved, opening the first small Red Cross office in Liberty with office space donated by a local lawyer.
Since then she has volunteered at hundreds of disasters across the United States and in Puerto Rico.
“A modest estimate would be 300 to 400,” her daughter Sharon Lackey said.
Easterling volunteered in several branches of the Red Cross, but primarily worked in Mass Care where she drove and worked out of Emergency Response Vehicles, or ERVs, preparing and serving food.
ERVs are box trucks that look similar to an ambulance, but inside they have the supplies to feed 500 people per day lunch and supper, as well as pass out snacks and hygiene kits.
“They can do so much out of such a small truck,” Easterling said.
Sanitation is very important, and volunteers even have to disinfect their shoes before they can begin work. If the meals don’t stay at a certain temperature, they have to be thrown out, she said.
In addition to the ERVs, Easterling has worked out of structures, from barns in the Midwest to aircraft hangers in California.
Red Cross workers stay in a disaster area for 21 days at a time, and the Red Cross pays their travel and living expenses, she said. Sometimes she has stayed longer periods of time. Easterling said she enjoyed traveling, but would rather drive than fly.
Responding to disasters requires a person to be strong emotionally, Easterling said. She faced many heart-wrenching situations during her volunteer work.
Once while passing out toys after a disaster in Texarkana, Ark., a woman approached Easterling and asked for a toy for her son. The woman explained that her house had been the one that burned to the ground with her son inside. Everything that belonged to the boy was gone so she asked for a toy to remember him by. Easterling’s eyes still fill with tears as she recalled the story.
“Some of them cry and I say, ‘That’s ok, I’ll cry with you,’” she said.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Easterling worked inside a big hotel just feet from what was left of the World Trade Center.
The Red Cross set up a station feeding firemen and providing them with rooms and showers, massages and clean clothes.
“Mail would come in from children and we put the letters on big tables. Children would say, ‘God will take care of you,’ and the firemen would take time to sit down and write them back,” she said.
Rescue workers were working right across the road, digging through debris and furniture, looking for remains. Many times people would be identified by a body part, or a pieceof property such as a policeman’s gun, she said.
Rescue workers had to wear hard hats and masks, and when a body was found, everything shutdown and got deathly quiet while it was covered with a flag and carried out.
“It was very solemn and very moving,” Easterling said.
One little girl said, “I’m so glad they found my Dad so now we can bury him.” Seeing a child thankful that her father’s body was found deeply touched Easterling.
“That was almost the last one because it was too much,” she said of the September 11 attacks.
Volunteering for the Red Cross wasn’t all heartbreak though, there were also plenty of fun and adventurous times. Easterling got to drive the first Humvee donated to the Red Cross while responding to a disaster in Virginia. The roads were narrow and winding and the vehicle was extra wide, so Easterling told her companions “all right guys, you watch that side and I’ll watch this side.”
Easterling’s daughter Sharon was also involved in the Red Cross. Although Sharon couldn’t travel because of her job and children, she volunteered whenever she could in their local area.
Growing up around the Red Cross also set a great example for Sharon’s two sons. Although her younger son may not remember as well, the boys loved the ERV, and the experience has made her sons more compassionate, she said.
“Once you get into it, it affects everybody (in the family),” Sharon said.
Easterling was honored for her service in the Red Cross with the Arkansas Traveler’s Award in March of 1997, signed by then-governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee.
“I’ve always had a passion for people ... It’s a great pleasure to be able to help people like I did,” Easterling said.
News, Pages 1 on 02/10/2010