A Hero Among Us

HEY GUYS, THIS IS MY FRIEND PAT!!

Pat Johnson was featured by the Galesburg Register-Mail last Fall.  Ever since we all took early retirement she has been donating her time for the Red Cross and has made several trips to help with disaster relief.  I'm happy to say she is one of my bestests friends and has been for decades.  Way to go Pat.  Good job.  She would be embarrassed by this in the BFE blog, but she doesn't always check in so maybe I'll be able to sneak this in without her spotting it.

GALESBURG — It was the sixth anniversary Monday when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast causing long lasting devastation.

And as she did then, Pat Johnson of Knoxville spent the day preparing to go off to another disaster as a volunteer with the Western Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross. She is the only volunteer so far to be activated by the local chapter.

Today, in the wake of Hurricane Irene, Johnson will board a plane for Boston where she will volunteer at a Red Cross shelter for two weeks.

She was supposed to leave Saturday but there was a problem with her airline ticket. Now she’s in for a long day as airlines are just beginning to get flights out of airports that were shut down for nearly three days in some areas due to Irene.

“Katrina was my first disaster,” she said.

Then, the retired Knox County Mary Davis Home employee, spent three weeks in Gulfport, La., working in a shelter.

“It was a shelter for 250 people and we just did the feeding, the support, helped them make contacts, tried to help them get things they needed,” she said.

Johnson, who will celebrate her 72nd birthday on Friday, has been busy this year.

She has been to Tuscaloosa, Ala., following the devastating tornadoes there.

“I was in Alabama when it hit Joplin,” Johnson said.

She’s also been to Minot, N.D., to aid victims of record flooding.
"I’ve been to about a dozen disasters in all,” she said. “I’ve been gone a lot of birthdays and holidays.”

Johnson began volunteering just a couple months after retiring from Mary Davis in June 2005.

“I just wanted to do something and have a sense of accomplishment,” she said. “It’s been a very great experience for me. I’ve learned a lot and met a lot of wonderful people. I have some very good friends I’ve remained in contact with. I feel I’ve received more than I’ve given out.”

How to help

The main focus of the Red Cross now is to provide people affected by Hurricane Irene with shelter and food. Sunday night, the Red Cross operated or supported approximately 340 shelters with more than 8,600 residents from North Carolina to New England. This number will fluctuate. Since Friday, it has provided more than 48,000 overnight shelter stays.

The Red Cross also has made arrangements to have about 1.3 million meals available in North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and New York through its partners. It has approximately 260 feeding vehicles ready to go into neighborhoods, and has engaged every Red Cross feeding truck east of the Rocky Mountains in the relief effort.

The footprint left behind by Irene is huge, stretching out larger than the size of Europe. The cost of the Red Cross’ response will be millions. People who can help are encouraged to click, text or call to donate to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Visit www.redcross.org, call (800) RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. If you prefer to work with the local chapter, drop off or mail a donation to American Red Cross, 143 E. Main St., Galesburg, IL 61401 and note whether you want the donation to be used toward local disaster relief or a specific emergency (East Coast Hurricane Relief) or for the Disaster Fund in general.

Lcoon@register-mail.com

Pat and Mike were about my first 'outside MDH' contacts when I started working way back when.  After Mike died Pat soldiered on and has been a constant in my life for around 35 years.  She would do anything for you and there is, I swear, absolutely NONE better than Pat.  Funny, self-deprecating, just plain fun to be around, Pat has been putting up with my crap for decades and still, I think, kinda likes me.  Thanks for your contribution to society and my life.