Red Cross Relief

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But the help sometimes comes in advance.

Theresa Citarella of Arlington first encountered the Red Cross March 18, 2000, at a safety fair at her child's school. That's where she first met Anita Foster, regional chief communications officer for the Red Cross North Texas Region. "Meeting Anita that day taught me how to be prepared for a tornado and what part of the house was my "safe room," although I thought it would never happen." Ten days later, it did. She's been involved as a volunteer ever since.

More than 300 Red Cross workers helped DFW families when 17 tornadoes tore through the area. They delivered more than 40,000 meals and snacks, operated safe shelters and handed out nearly 7,000 relief items such as shovels, tarps, work gloves and more.

"Teresa was working at a school in Arlington on April 3, 2012, when a tornado hit the school. She was texting me the entire time to let me know where the storms were hitting so we could activate teams there," Foster said.

"Anita and the Red Cross are my life-long friends," says Citarella.

Clara Barton, nicknamed "the angel of the battlefield" by soldiers for her service in combat zones as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War, founded the American Red Cross in 1881. The Dallas chapter was founded in 1911, and the Tarrant County chapter in 1916. The two now operate under unified leadership.

Fort Worth volunteer Phyllis Tolles has had a hand in many relief efforts.

"I began volunteering with Red Cross in 1995. I had just lost my husband very suddenly and unexpectedly after 36 years and was at loose ends," Tolles said. "I read that ARC needed volunteers for disaster relief who could respond both locally and nationally. I signed up, and for the next 14 years, it became the focus of my time and energy.

"I responded to single family fires, worked the Fort Worth Emergency Operations Center during disasters, taught classes, acted as volunteer coordinator, recruited, trained and deployed volunteers to national disasters, and served six years on the Chisholm Trail Board," she said.

The United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County named Tolles Volunteer of the Year in 2002. She took a little break, but she's back in the saddle.

"In November, I went to New Jersey for two weeks with the mobile feeding unit of Mass Care in response to Hurricane Sandy," she said. In all, 163 workers from the North Texas Region have deployed to help in the aftermath.

All deployments are significant but 9/11 was the most memorable.

"I was in New York for two months doing casework, and I still think about some of the people we helped and wonder how they are doing. There were so many people hurting in so many ways," she said.

"She's such a good representative of what Red Cross volunteers are like," said Foster. "We ask volunteers to be on-call 24/7, to pop out of bed at 2:30 in the morning because a home is on fire and a family is out on the curb. And our volunteers do it."