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22 | November 8, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot LIFE & ARTS newlenoxpatriot.com Volunteer provides relief after Hurricanes Michael, Florence Amanda Stoll, Assistant Editor In the last month, New Lenox resident Steve Wise has been called to help with relief efforts not once, but twice. After Hurricanes Florence and Michael devastated parts of the Carolinas and the Florida panhandle, respectively, the Red Cross volunteer traveled to disaster zones to help organize and run the day-today operations of multiple shelters set up to house people displaced by the storms. Wise had hardly returned from a trip out East in late September to help people displaced by Hurricane Florence when another storm — Hurricane Michael — threatened the southern states. Hurricane Florence The shelter Wise helped run at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was not as big as others he has worked at, as it had a capacity of about 600 people, but he said many of the same tasks, challenges and situations met him an the other volunteers each day. Running a shelter is a bit like running a small city, he said, with people coming in, completing paperwork and medical assessments, finding clothing and beds for them, and coordinating showers and food. Between Sept. 11-21, he was doing all of that as a Red Cross volunteer with a megashelter leadership team of about eight people. The most evacuees they had in one night was about 450, many of whom were bussed in from hard-hit towns in the area. Many of them arrived with just the clothes on their back and maybe a handful of possessions — depending on what they had time to grab. It also meant that many people had to leave their prescription medications and medical equipment behind, so Wise said in addition to having doctors and mental health professionals at the shelter, there were pharmacists who were able to dispense medicine for people. “Oftentimes people are showing up with very little,” Wise said, “so their clothing is not much. They could be leaving some of their medical things behind. It could be anything from prescriptions to wheel chairs to you name it. “It all depends on how quickly they had to evacuate their home.” Hurricane Michael Soon after returning from providing relief to victims of Hurricane Florence, Wise turned around and headed to Florida where Hurricane Michael wreaked havoc on the panhandle. Once there, he helped troubleshoot and improve various shelters from the Red Cross base in Tallahassee. His team visited shelters serving anywhere from 30 people to 500 people, but Wise said while driving between the shelters he was faced with devastation like nothing he had ever seen before. “I’ve been involved with tornados before and things like that but the power of this storm is just amazing what it’s done to the areas I came across,” he said. The Category 4 storm hit Florida with wind speeds of 155 miles per hour, just 1 mph short of a Category 5 designation. “The wind just basically destroyed things... “You would just look in awe at [the buildilngs], and you just can’t believe what has happened or what’s in front of your eyes,” Wise said. “This is probably the hardest deployment I’ve had in terms of that regard. Basically I was on the front lines all the time and you just saw the sheer destruction that Mother Nature wrecked on the Panhandle of Florida.” Despite the destruction he has witnessed since becoming a volunteer in 2015, Wise returns again and again when disaster strikes and encourages others to volunteer to help out their fellow man as well. “It’s a great experience because you get to see just the heart of a volunteer,” Wise said. “If you haven’t done any volunteer work yourself I would just encourage you to. It’s just amazing what these people will do. They stop their lives and go help people who need their help.” During disaster relief, volunteers do whatever they can to get people the supplies they need to get through their stay, Wise said, which could last long past the storm if roads are not cleared or water and electricity are not back in service. “One of then questions you get asked constantly when these thing happen is, ‘When do I get to go home?’” Wise said. Oftentimes, he said, the New Lenox resident Steve Wise had a busy couple of months, first volunteering in North Carolina in September during Hurricane Florence and then flying to Florida in October to aid those affected from Hurricane Michael. Photos Submitted best thing volunteers can to do help is just be a shoulder to cry on and sit with them. “You have people that their life has been turned upside down, and you do everything that you can to try to comfort them the best you can,” Wise said. “One thing is just taking time to stop with them and talk to them, ask them questions or just get to know them.” In addition to getting to know many of the people in the shelter, Wise said volunteers oftentimes build lasting friendships among themselves as well. “You band together and you do your best to provide the services that people need,” he said, “and a lot of people end up touching your heart, so you do everything to touch the hearts of evacuees.” Pictured are photos Steve Wise took in Florida of the wreckage from Hurricane Michael.
newlenoxpatriot.com PUZZLES The New Lenox Patriot | November 8, 2018 | 23 crosstown CROSSWORD & Sudoku The crosstowns: Frankfort, Homer Glen, Lockport, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Park, Tinley Park Crossword by Myles Mellor and Cindy LaFleur Across 1. Puerto Rican singer 5. Salad with bacon and eggs 9. Mingle 14. “Me neither” 15. 1988 World Series hero Hershiser 16. Chessman 17. Greek letters 18. Sweet 16 org. 19. Golfer Sam 20. Homer Glen church 23. BBC rival 24. “Bone” prefix 25. Shuts tightly 27. Fall times: Abbr. 29. Mali, but not Bali 33. Calendar abbr. 36. Pitches in 39. Singer Furtado 40. Approx. 42. Yellowfin tuna 43. Deodars 44. Thundering 45. One of the Flintstones 47. Compass point 48. Fixes, as software 50. Casino game 52. Slow tempo 55. They meet in the middle 58. Hall of Fame outfielder Roush 60. 1986 crime film starring Crispin Glover 63. Night-time disturbance, at times 65. South Seas island 66. Place for grain 67. Make a pass at 68. “What ___ can I say?” 69. Procrastinator’s promise 70. Idyllic spots 71. Nicholas I or II 72. Singer Tori Down 1. Count __ blessings 2. Catchphrase 3. Egyptians, for example 4. Meet, as expectations 5. Suggest, as a meaning 6. Sea World attraction 7. Baylor University team name 8. Stalk of grass 9. Internet addresses 10. Pastor 11. ___ Joe Black 12. Volunteer’s words 13. Made an x in a box 21. Have another cup of coffee 22. ___ Antonio 26. Aromatic tropical shrubs 28. Order at KFC 30. Seine sights 31. Rousing cheers 32. Financial page inits. 33. Large number 34. Dublin locale 35. “No ___!” 37. ___ Beta Kappa 38. Scarf material 41. Witches’ pot 46. More joyful 49. Elder 51. “The _____ File” spy thriller 53. Lhasa’s land 54. Racecourses 56. “Burn the midnight oil,” for one 57. White house? 58. Novelist Bagnold 59. Shower affection (on) 61. Literary lioness 62. Seeming eternity 63. H. Rider Haggard novel 64. Rank, abbr. How to play Sudoku Each sudoku puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3x3 squares. To solve the puzzle, each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. LEVEL: Medium Sudoku by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan answers NEW LENOX Little Joe’s Restaurant (1300 N. Cedar Road, New Lenox; (815) 463- 1099) 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays: Piano Styles by Joe ORLAND PARK The Brass Tap (14225 95th Ave. Suite 400, Orland Park; (708) 226-1827) ■8 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Trivia. Prizes awarded ■9 ■ p.m. Fridays and Saturdays: Live music Square Celt Ale House & Grill (39 Orland Square Drive, Orland Park; (708) 226- 9600) ■8 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Free Bar Bingo ■8 ■ p.m. Wednesdays: Free Trivia ■9 ■ p.m. Fridays or Saturdays: Live Music ■10 ■ p.m. Sundays: Karaoke tinley park Ed & Joe’s Restaurant & Pizzeria (17332 S. Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park; (708) 532- 3051) ■7:30 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Team Trivia Hailstorm Brewing (8060 186th St., Tinley Park); (708) 480-2268) ■Thursdays: ■ Open mic night Old Tinley Pub & Eatery (17020 Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park; (708) 532- 4409) ■8 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Trivia Night ■8 ■ p.m. Wednesdays: Movie Night ■8 ■ p.m. Thursdays: Karaoke MOKENA The Alley Grill and Tap House (18700 S. Old LaGrange Road, Mokena; (708) 478-3610) ■9 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Karaoke To place an event in The Scene, email a.stoll@22ndcenturymedia. com.
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