Less than fifty miles west the unceasing tide rose, pushing inland without remorse. Nature has no remorse. It has no emotion. There were no “I’m sorrys” when Hurricane Katrina washed the world away on August 29th, 2005.

Entire blocks of the Mississippi Gulf Coast slipped into the unrelenting sea. Gone. Forever residing at the bottom of the Mississippi Sound for some future archaeologist to discover.

The levees broke. With them, my heart.

Searching for purpose in the wake of disaster – searching for myself – I volunteered to return immediately to help. I didn’t go. When the campus reopened nine months after the flood, I returned. June 1, 2006.

I made it two years – two years that changed the very core of who I am.

Six years ago today my life was uprooted. As were thousands of others, I became an American refugee. Six years ago I grew up. And in the two years after I returned, I learned what it meant to be a man.

Pain. Compassion. Hard work.

When I quit my job making coffee last year, I went to the Red Cross. I joined because I didn’t want people to suffer the way they had during Katrina. I wanted to help.

And I did. I’ve responded to fires and tornadoes. In the aftermath of the North and Central Alabama tornadoes, our chapter sent volunteers and staff to help. I did everything I could within the guidelines of the AmeriCorps VISTA program. And when a position opened up at the chapter in July, I applied.

Six years. Six years ago I would not have seen myself here. Not in this town. Not doing this.

But here I am. Today – six years to the day after my world was completely rocked – today is my first day as the District Volunteer Development Specialist with the American Red Cross.

I’m sure I’ve been making a difference for a while now, whether it was in Louisiana or Texas or Alabama. Whether it was as a popcorn boy at Target or as a coffee boy at the local bookstore or over the last year as a volunteer and VISTA.

It took a while. It felt like eternity. I’m pretty sure I sacrificed a few of my geriatric years getting here.

Pain. Compassion. Hard work.

It was worth it.

As a Red Cross volunteer, you can be the best part of someone’s worst day.

more about Priest | photos of Priest’s work

Last Sunday after church a few of us went down to an annual three-day arts festival, Arts Alive!, in Cathedral Square. I took this shot of a glass-worker at work.

A couple months ago I was called out to a fire in Eight Mile, Alabama. As you can see, the house and all their possessions were a total loss. The man of the house was at home asleep when it happened, and his granddaughter, sick and home from preschool, woke him up when she smelled smoke. They both escaped through a window before the house burned to the ground.

Stories like this one are just a small part of why I work for the Red Cross. We provide all disaster services free of charge- from preparedness and training before a disaster to assistance during and after one. The Alabama Gulf Coast Chapter runs on a very small staff and relies on volunteers across Southwest Alabama to respond to fires, open shelters, and provide other disaster services. Please consider taking a health and safety course, participating in disaster training, or donating to our cause. More information can be found on our website.

Somehow- don’t ask me how, exactly- but somehow, I ended up working on the Annual Gumbo Cook-Off. I had a 75-year old mentor who reminded me often, “Honey, I’ve been doing this 56 years.” Thank God for that woman. About a third of the way through, she decided it was my turn to run things, and I ended up as the chair of our Cook-Off this year…

…about the same time the Red Cross brought me on as an AmeriCorps VISTA. So January 31st was my first day “on the job,” not as a volunteer. That meant I was not only working on the Gumbo Cook-Off, but also working to “build resilience in the community during times of disaster” through our Neighbor to Neighbor program. But enough about N2N and resilience- that’s another post.

Until this year I had never planned or run an event before. There’s a lot of work involved. Because of an email glitch, those emails we sent out in October didn’t arrive, so we started from scratch the first week of January. We needed teams and sponsors. We needed new trophies, aprons, t-shirts, and banners. We needed a killer kids’ area, great entertainment, and drink trailers. We needed posters and ticket distributors. We needed to upgrade our logo from clip art to something eye-catching. We needed a lot.

Most importantly, we needed to raise more money than ever. Last year our Cook-Off had 8 teams, 600 visitors, and raised about $3,500. With the help of last year’s event organizer (who made it back from maternity leave just in time to help us get things finalized) and Ann Coffee (my 75 year old extra-curricular grandmother), we nearly doubled the teams (some dropped out at the last minute), easily tripled the income, and probably had about 1,000 people show up to the event. It was a hit. And it blew my mind.

The Unofficial Estimated Stats: 13 teams, 800+ guests, ~$11,000 (net) raised for the Alabama Gulf Coast Chapter.

And we’ve already started planning for next year. The date is set: Saturday, March 31, 2012. You coming?

Doors | Taken on November 13, 2010 underneath Felix’s Fish Camp on the Causeway in Mobile, Alabama
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