On October 6th we were deployed to Houston for Rita. We were told by Elkhart Chapter to report to Baytown, TX first and get assigned. When we arrived there, they split Tony & me up. I stayed at the hospital that had been closed and was being used by the Red Cross and was with the In- and Out-processing team in Staff Services. (see Pic St. Rita Staff - right) The woman in grey ARC vest, Kay Lowen was the supervisor and the only other DOVE on the team.

After a week and a half our service was winding down so they sent a few of us to the Montgomery Wards facility to work. I was lucky, I got to be in charge of the warehouse where all the food from all the feeding areas all over the gulf was being stored temporarily. I got to drive a hi-lo but not much, the guys were having too much fun. (See Pic Baytown Warehouse - left)

Worked in the warehouse for a week or so until they decided to send me to Houston, only to find out when we moved the RV from Baytown to Houston that they wanted Tony to work in Baytown again.(See pic Baytown CLS Tony - below)

All the while I was moving around Tony was learning the ropes at the Montgomery wards facility in Baytown in Client Services. Seems that they had 50,000 debit cards that needed to get to the clients and he was on that team. He learned a lot and made many friends there. We thought that he would eventually get to Houston with me, but instead they sent me back to work with him, because they needed help in the Client Service Group to help get the cards out. So we both drove the 40 minutes from Houston to Baytown for another week, then we were both transferred to Houston where we finished up the CAC cards. We never get to be in the field but we get a great deal of pleasure from knowing that the clients are being served and our part of the work with the RED CROSS is done with integrity and optimism. All I know is that everywhere I went when I told them I was a DOVE they said 'we love DOVES, they are such good and hard workers, we want you to work on our team'. So thanks for the opportunity to serve, and I'm sure Elkhart Chapter will holler when they need us again.

Tony & Mary Campbell

Note: click on small pictures to see full size pictures