Barbara Wood: Disaster strikes and it's my Aunt Vinnie to the rescue Barbara Wood: Disaster strikes and it's my Aunt Vinnie to the rescue (October 26, 2005)

They say no one has heroes any more, but I do, and one of mine is my 73-year-old aunt, Vinnie Biberdorf, who spent three weeks in September helping to run a Louisiana shelter that housed nearly 7,000 hurricane victims at its most jam-packed.

Aunt Vinnie, a long-time resident of Los Altos who has always been tough, resilient and hard-working, has been a Red Cross paid staff member or loyal volunteer for nearly 40 years. She has run Red Cross shelters in a number of states and many types of disasters, so when the call for volunteers went out after Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, she responded immediately.

Despite the fact that the situation was described as a "hardship assignment" where there might be no electricity, no running water and no hotel rooms, and despite the fact that she has had hip and knee replacement surgeries, Aunt Vinnie was on a plane headed for Louisiana the day after New Orleans was hit by Katrina.

Volunteers were told to bring sleeping mats, blankets, pillows and emergency food, that they should be able to lift 50 pounds and to be prepared to work 12- to 14-hour days.

"I really wondered if I was physically and mentally able to do this," Aunt Vinnie says. In addition to everything else, she worried that the hot, humid environment would make it hard for her to sleep.

She knew, however, that her experience in running shelters would prove valuable, and because she bikes, camps and hikes she is in much better physical condition than many half her age. She has twice ridden across the country, at age 60 and age 65.

Aunt Vinnie was sent to Lafayette, Louisiana, where residents of New Orleans had been evactuated to the Cajundome, a convention center/sports arena owned jointly by the state, the town and Louisiana University.

"It was chaotic and noisy," Aunt Vinnie says. It was also safe, she says, thanks to the National Guard and police presence, and it was clean, thanks to a thrice daily disinfecting of bathrooms and other shared facilities.

Much of Aunt Vinnie's experience in running other shelters was of no use in the Cajundome. Only one shelter, in Alviso, had been in use for more than a few days, and the largest population had been 300. "A small shelter full of neighbors is really different from a giant shelter full of a whole population," she says.

Vinnie was in charge of child care, including care of a number of children of all ages who had been separated from their parents. She also helped to coordinate the 4,000 local volunteers and others from around the country and to distribute the supplies that came into the dome.

A field hospital, run by 150 volunteer doctors and nurses, was set up inside the dome along with a pharmacy kept busy dispensing medications to hurricane victims.

Aunt Vinnie slept in a volunteer shelter, in a church classroom with 18 others. There were showers, a washer and dryer, and church members cooked many of their meals.

Sleeping, she said, turned out to not be a problem because her camping equipment was comfortable and she was completely exhausted.

I found out from searching the Internet, not from Aunt Vinnie, that Laura Bush had visited the Cajundome while Vinnie was there and had given her a hug in thanks for all her hard work.

While local residents have been generous in donating to hurricane relief, Aunt Vinnie says the local chapters need money to help fund their day-to-day activities:

** The Palo Alto American Red Cross chapter Web site is at paarc.org. Call 688-0415 or write 400 Mitchell Lane, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

"I did hold up," Aunt Vinnie said after her return. "I did really well. I was surprised. I'm convinced good shoes helped a lot."

Barbara Wood is a freelance writer, photographer and gardener from Woodside.

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