More than 30 years later, Agnes victim repaying favor
Published: August 31, 2005
Christine Mizenko was a newlywed and living in Swoyersville for about a month when floodwaters from Tropical Storm Agnes destroyed her home.
The attic where she had moved her belongings for safekeeping collapsed. Her Slocum Street house was demolished after the June 1972 flood devastated the Wyoming Valley.
“We lost everything,” Mizenko said. American Red Cross volunteers came to her aid with clothing vouchers and emotional support. “I never knew how I could pay them back.”
She said she could not afford to donate money, but she could make time to help.
The 55-year-old mother of five is now a local Red Cross volunteer and will assist in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. She doesn’t know exactly where or when she will go. “Thank goodness my kids understand,” she said.
Mizenko has been a Red Cross volunteer for about 10 years and saves vacation days from her full-time retail job for times such as this. She has assisted in local Red Cross emergencies like fires. She volunteered for her first national assignment last year after Hurricane Charley. “I was scared. I was excited.”
It was an emotional experience. She volunteered in a service center in Florida helping people obtain vouchers for food and other items. Sometimes she handed out water. Young bilingual children helped her and other Red Cross volunteers communicate with adults needing help. “There were many tears, definitely.”
Mizenko said the experience was unbelievable. “I made a difference in someone’s life.”
One hurricane victim’s house burned down when the power was restored. The woman then offered to assist Red Cross volunteers because she had no home to return to. Mizenko remembers people like her.
She can identify with some of the challenges that disaster victims face as she recalls her own post-Agnes experiences. “You’re so confused; you don’t know what’s going on.”
Former Wilkes-Barre resident and longtime Red Cross volunteer Joe Jackson left Tuesday from the Wyoming Valley Chapter to help man the organization’s national hotline based in Virginia. Jackson, 69, first assisted the Red Cross after flooding in Iowa in 1993. “I fell in love with the Red Cross.”
Jackson, a Department of Veterans Affairs retiree now living in Chester County, said his first Red Cross experience encouraged him to continue as a volunteer. “That was a beautiful thing to feel.”
He has helped after numerous natural disasters such as an earthquake in California and hurricanes in Florida last year. “When they need me, I’m ready to go.”
Jackson said disaster victims’ stories still affect him. They tell of hiding in a closet for hours during a storm, praying and fearing that they will die. “You have to feel something that these people went through this.”
He said he would much rather help people, than be in their place. “I just listen to their stories and pray I never have to go through what they’ve gone through.”
Amy Gabriel of the Wyoming Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross said 10 local volunteers will be among approximately 11,000 Red Cross personnel who will assist with Gulf Coast relief efforts. The local chapter has scheduled a second training session for disaster relief team volunteers for Sept. 8 because today’s session is filled.
Those who complete the training could be used for local emergencies in the future or for disaster relief in a few weeks.
Gabriel said local homemakers, retired teachers, nurses and others are enrolled in the training sessions. “There’s more of a desire to help with this because it’s so massive.”
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