On Sept. 26, 2024, Susan Everitt had a bag packed, ready to head to south Georgia or Florida the following morning.
When she woke up on Sept. 27, however, the executive director of the American Red Cross of Augusta knew she wouldn’t need to go far to provide Hurricane Helene relief. But she had to get out of her driveway first.
“I told my husband, ‘Clearly, I’m not headed to Florida. You’ve got to figure out a way to get me out of here,” said Everitt, who lives in Edgefield.
While the Everitt home was o.k., she and her husband lost many trees as well as their vehicles. With no cell service on Sept. 27, she had no idea what was happening in the rest of the CSRA. She only knew that people needed her help.
She finally made it to the Ellis Street office next to Sacred Heart Cultural Center on Sept. 29 and stayed there for the next 31 days.
“When I got here, there were 40 people here – all volunteers. Many of them had trees through their homes. They brought backpacks with them and sleeping bags, and they made it their home for three to four weeks. We had people sleeping in the lobby, the hallway and upstairs,” she said.
Helene was the 16th natural disaster Everitt had been deployed to. She took over as the organization’s executive director in February 2017.
But the volunteers didn’t need her there for them to know what needed to be done. Seasoned and trained veterans, they set up shelters at May Park and Henry Brigham Community Center. Some of the volunteers stayed at those shelters because they couldn’t go to their homes.
Providing emergency assistance immediately after a disaster is one of the missions of the Red Cross. And despite seeing many others, Everitt said she was shocked with Helene’s destruction.
“I have never ever seen the scale and scope of anything like this…It was a massive, significant, incredibly intense event,” she said.
Of the 23 Georgia counties the area chapter covers, “only one county was technically not affected,” she said.
In other disasters she’s responded to, the needs have been more concentrated in smaller geographic areas. The magnitude of Helene made getting help to those who needed it difficult.
At the time, help was piece meal with items such as water, food, diapers, clothing and tarps distributed over multiple locations, creating a logistics’ nightmare. Also, roads were blocked; others were dangerous to drive on.
“We needed a one-stop shop – a place for the community to come,” she said.
Everitt called several previous Red Cross board chairs to get help with an idea in the days following the storm.
“I said ‘let’s do it one day and see what happens,’” she said.
They gathered at the HUB for Community Innovation on Chafee Avenue. People who had resources brought them in, and they were given away.
“On the first day – at the end of the day – everything had been given away, and it was a massive amount. But I knew there was still more,” she said.
The drive continued for seven days, and at the end of each day, Everitt didn’t know if there would be anything to give away the next.
She said it was like “Santa’s Elves” showed up first thing in the morning to replenish the supplies. One day, a couple brought a rented truck full of diapers from Savannah’s diaper center. That was a huge need filled.
They also delivered boxes to items to people who couldn’t get out of their homes, she said.
And while she said efforts weren’t perfect, she said she was proud of what her team of committed volunteers was able to accomplish. Her voice broke when she spoke of them and their dedication.
Everitt’s own dedication came years before she took the post as executive director. She first encountered the Red Cross in September 1999 while living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Hurricane Floyd claimed the Everitt home, and Everitt came face-to-face with Red Cross volunteers.
“It was such an impactful thing in Myrtle Beach to have people who were strangers who only wanted to help. They left the comfort of their own homes, and I thought ‘I can’t believe people do this. That’s extraordinary,’” she said.
Over the years, she volunteered as her work schedule allowed. Along with her husband and daughter, who now works in the non-profit sector, the family took spring breaks to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. A friend of Everitt’s from college is an Episcopal priest and the family worked with that group that also worked alongside Red Cross members.
Out of all the disasters though, nothing compares to Helene, she said.
“We did lose our house in Myrtle Beach, (but) this is harder than that. I think it’s harder because I feel responsible. There, I was a hurricane survivor. Here, it’s like – it’s my community. It hits really differently.”
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
