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Local Volunteer Heading to Baton Rouge

By 250 News

Local Red Cross Volunteer Frances Yarbrough prepares to head to Baton Rouge

Come Monday, there will be a definite “250” connection with Hurricane Katrina’s victims.

Local Red Cross disaster volunteer Frances Yarbrough will be off to Baton Rouge. This will be the fourth disaster the Prince George resident has responded to this year. “The year started out in Hixon where we were huddled in a gym waiting for the evacuation order, and now I am off to Baton Rouge.” She will be the second Red Cross volunteer from the Northern B.C. -Yukon Region office to head to the Katrina disaster area. Alvina Bergin from Fort Nelson is already in Baton Rouge.

This will be Yarbrough’s second time dealing with disaster in the New Orleans area. Her first assignment was in New Orleans ten years ago. At that time, she worked in an outreach capacity with victims who had many challenges to face as they returned to their flood stricken homes. Since that time, she has been with the Red Cross when it responded to several disasters including the 9-11 terrorist attack, fire threat in McBride, and floods in Manitoba.

“I was in Manitoba working on the follow up from flooding, when Katrina hit New Orleans. My husband’s colleagues at work asked him if I would be heading to the disaster area, he told them it wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when” says Yarbrough.

Frances has actually been cleared to be in Baton Rouge since the 9th of this month, but travel arrangements were difficult to complete because of the influx of aid workers, and the limited access to the hardest hit regions. She is not certain if she will be at a center where disaster victims are staying, or if she will once again be in an outreach capacity, helping people adjust to their lives and assessing their needs.

She believes “We can do amazing things if we pull together”, and will be helping “pull” in the Baton Rouge area until October. “I will return to Prince George in early October, just in time for Thanksgiving.”

It will be a special Thanksgiving, as Frances says “When you come home, you have a new appreciation for so many things, a home that is still standing, a light that will turn on when you flick the switch, clean water. Yes, I feel very blessed.”

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