NORWICH – Just one year after the wrath of disastrous Hurricane Katrina was felt, three local residents share their story about what it was like to be part of the relief effort.

Based in three separate territories in the south, the three worked as Red Cross volunteers to lend a helping hand in any way they could. The hurricane spared little; the volunteerism spared nothing.

Audrey Aitken is a shelter manager and is also the disaster alert team coordinator for Chenango County. Aitken was volunteered in Slidell, Louisiana just across the clause way from New Orleans at two shelters. The first shelter held about 300 people, was crammed and only had two bathrooms.

“People were very sick and many were suffering from diabetic shock,” she said. “The second was better organized but was still very chaotic, people were displaced and confused.”

Aitken recalls the experience as stressful. She says it took her time to calm down after she came home, but she would like to go back and see the progress they are making to rebuild.

Alice Pollock first started volunteering through the Red Cross 15 years ago during the eastern Kansas and Western Missouri floods of 1993. She has volunteered continually minus the time following a motorcycle accident where she was seriously hurt.

“I guess I was spared for a reason,” Pollock said. “God works in mysterious ways.”