By Rose Ellen O'Connor, Volunteer
For the first time in 50 years, Marco Johnson wasn’t home for Christmas. Marco, a Red Cross volunteer, responded to the urgent call for volunteers in December 2018 to staff shelters in Chico, California, where one of the largest wildfire disasters struck residents of Northern California. The Red Cross Shelter at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds was already open for over a month when Marco arrived for his two-week mission, and the volunteers he replaced were worn-out. The California Camp Fire Disaster Response Operation (DRO) was a level 7 event, which describes the degree of conditions and recovery needed. This is the highest level of any disaster - equating to about 10 to 20 million dollars of financial support needed.
But Marco says he didn’t feel like he missed Christmas. His family decorated the house with lights and put up an 11-foot Christmas tree before his deployment to California. Marco’s family and friends provided encouragement and waited until he got home to celebrate the holidays. Once deployed, he kept in-touch between shifts.
“It’s really what Christmas is supposed to be about,” Marco says.
In Chico, Marco supervised and trained volunteers, overseeing the care of about 100 men and working with victims one-on-one. Marco brought a lot of expertise to the assignment. Along with over 10 years of experience with the Red Cross, Marco had worked for 40 years as a manager for the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. By the time he left Chico, he knew most of the victims’ names and stories. He barely slept for two weeks, he says, rising at 5 a.m. for his shift and staying a bit longer for shift turnover.
It was always cold and damp in Chico and everyone, including Marco, was coughing. He felt as if he were in a hospital ward, and when he got home, it took him many days to recuperate. It had been raining for several weeks before he got to Chico, and it didn’t let up when he arrived.
“It rained and rained and rained,” Marco says. “I heard that the sun came out for one hour after I left but then it started raining again. “When you went out to do anything, you walked out in the rain. Whether you went out to wash your hands or go to another building, to eat or go to the port-o-potty, you went out in the rain.”
The shelter was on a 43-acre fairgrounds. A sense of “not knowing what is next” or "how long will things take" permeated the shelter. The fires had been so hot they had twisted and melted steel cars and released toxins into the ground. Many houses were incinerated, and the properties were declared contaminated. Authorities let fire victims return to their homes one weekend to visit the devastation, but the rest of the time they were banned from the condemned properties. At first, no one could even walk the streets near their homes because the trees had burned at the roots and, especially with all the rain, were in danger of falling.
Marco encouraged those affected to meet with caseworkers from the Red Cross, FEMA, State, County, and veterans’ groups, and to continue to follow-up. Most were eager to qualify for relief, but still felt sadness at the thought of not returning home, and instead, being in a strange new location. Marco said they might one day return home if the properties were inspected and the toxins removed. This gave hope to some.
Marco looked for health issues and signs of depression and encouraged other volunteers to do so. Sometimes it’s as simple as noticing that someone is ignoring their hygiene.
“You’ve got to take care of yourself now,” Marco recalls telling one man. “You go shower. I’ll help you take some clothes to the free laundry.”
That would, of course, entail traipsing out in the rain again. Marco encouraged the men to avail themselves and introduce some holiday cheer to the shelter, like free haircuts, listening to carolers that came to visit, and enjoying special meals.
On December 24, Marco offered red suspenders to a trim, elderly man who had been walking around the shelter in a very oversized pair of jeans, holding them up with one hand. The man put the suspenders under his pillow. Marco says he would never have offered this man new pants because that would have been demeaning. New pants were available, but the client did not want any. As shelter supervisor, Marco kept the Red Cross team informed about shelter client’s status and habits, and even explained about the red suspenders. So, Marco completed the deployment, thinking the client did not use the red suspenders. The supervisor who took over after Marco left texted him a few days later to say that the man was wearing the suspenders. This seemed to be because the supervisor continued to follow up and care for the client and helped him to put on the red suspenders.
Asked if he found his work at the shelter depressing, he says no. He found it rewarding, he says.
“This was my reasonable definition of Christmas,” he says. “You feel like you’re making a difference. “You’re having some impact.”
Superiors at the Red Cross shelter rated Marco’s performance as excellent in every category, noting that “he worked with a challenging clientele in a complex shelter and did so with compassion and empathy.” Reviewers also noted that “most impressively”, Marco developed the staff to replace him. “Thanks to Marco, the men’s dorm is in good hands, but he will be greatly missed,” the reviewers wrote.
Over ten years ago, Marco spoke and trained at a leadership meeting in Washington, DC and afterward, a doctor from the Red Cross suggested he consider volunteering. Marco thought it would be a good fit, given his background in health management, and so he signed up.
Marco started out volunteering at home fires and other disasters throughout the National Capital Region. Soon, he became a leader of a Red Cross Disaster Action Team (DAT). His most poignant memory of the three years he spent volunteering there is handing a teddy bear to a distraught small child after their home burned.
He does not always deploy to local fires, but serves at shelter set-up for the victims and helps with logistics, disaster services technology, and staff services. He also trains volunteers and staff in how to run and work in a shelter and how to respond to fires, other emergencies and community preparedness education events. In all, he volunteers 30-40 hours a month for several Red Cross causes.
He’s also a community volunteer leader, working with other organizers to attract new volunteers, retain and engage those onboard, and enhance Red Cross’s presence in the community. He also teaches emergency preparedness classes and trains volunteers to work on the Pillow Case Project. In this program, children are taught about the dangers of fires and natural disasters. It was put together by the Red Cross and Disney, and children get pillowcases decorated with Disney characters and imprinted with a list of items they might want to bring in the event they need to evacuate their homes. In addition, he helps support the Home Fire Campaign. As part of this program, working with the fire department, Red Cross volunteers install free smoke alarms in homes of neighborhoods where there is a high degree of probability that those homes do not have working smoke alarms.
Another big interest for Marco is technology. He provides support for computers and other electronic equipment at disaster sites and events and trains users. This is done for the National Capital Region, including setting up and troubleshooting the region’s computers, radios, cell phones and other equipment. He helps at the Red Cross warehouse and has driven Emergency Response Vehicles (ERV), which carry food, water and medical supplies, to events as diverse as the Marine Corps Marathon, the presidential inaugurations, “Roaring Thunder”, and the 4th of July.
When asked how he relaxes, Marco chuckles, repeats the question and follows that with a long pause, as if he’d never considered it before. He mentions long walks, gardening and landscaping and then says he truly relaxes when he’s brushing up on Red Cross procedures or helping disabled veterans.
“I relax by reading Red Cross materials to keep up and be ready and prepared,” he says. “And I build wheelchair ramps. When I’m not Red-Crossing, I’m doing other volunteer work. That seems relaxing to me.”
