Valley volunteers prepare to help victims of Hurricane Irene

PHOENIX - As Hurricane Irene moves toward the East Coast, the Grand Canyon chapter of the Red Cross prepares to send help.

“I have a bag packed and ready to go,” said Helen Lindsey, a volunteer expected to be sent to North Carolina.

Lindsey likely won’t be the only person from the Valley to respond to the affected areas.

The Grand Canyon chapter could also send nurses and other volunteers as needed.

“I’ve been watching the TV and following the storm, it’s scary, knowing that it’s getting closer,” said Lindsey while sitting in the chapter’s office in north Phoenix.

It’s not the first disaster she has responded to. Recently, she went to Alabama following the deadly tornadoes that swept through that state.

Now she’s mentally preparing for what she may encounter after Irene passes through.

“Seeing it on TV is so different from being there,” said Lindsey. “Our goal is to help people basically start over, they don’t want pity, they just want help and that’s what the Red Cross is all about.

At this point, Lindsey and others from the Grand Canyon chapter aren’t sure when exactly they’ll leave or how long they’ll be stationed along the East Coast.

“We could leave at any minute and really, we could go anywhere, we just go to where people need us,” she said.