J.J. Kellum, with the American Red Cross, talks with a man who stopped by the organization's donation site Saturday in Coos Bay at the Farr's True Value Hardware store parking lot. World Photo by Lou Sennick

No sooner had American Red Cross volunteers J.J. Kellum and Daniel Land set up their Hurricane Katrina information stand Saturday morning when motorists were pulling off Bayshore Drive to donate money.

"I haven't seen it except on TV," Kellum said of the hurricane, as a woman handed her a $100 bill and left without waiting for a receipt. "But it's disastrous, this is the worst I've seen."

Saturday's 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. stand in the Farr's True Value Hardware parking lot in Coos Bay is only part of an ongoing effort that will probably last months, noted Renae Iverson, a Red Cross volunteer.

Another donor waiting for Iverson to write a receipt for her asked where her 16-year-old daughter could donate blood -- she couldn't herself because of health issues, she explained.

"It's as bad economically as it was during the Depression," Kellum continued as Iverson referred the woman to the Coos Bay Red Cross office on Fourth Street. "That's how many people need jobs and food."

Kellum is a 13-year Red Cross veteran who joined the disaster relief agency two weeks after it helped her brother in the aftermath of a devastating home fire.

"I'm a professional volunteer," joked Kellum, who also is team captain of the volunteer search and rescue team that works with the Coos County Sheriff's Office.

Iverson, a Coquille middle school teacher who also is a Bay Cities Ambulance emergency medical technician, followed a friend's example and joined the disaster relief organization nine years ago while attending college.

The Red Cross is dependent entirely on donations for disaster relief and training new volunteers, said Iverson.

"People don't realize that," said Iverson. "They think we're part of the government."

The Red Cross' national office functions as a bank, distributing donations as needed to the local offices that bear the brunt of regional emergencies, said Iverson.

Eighteen volunteers from the Oregon Pacific Chapter, which includes Coos and Curry counties, already left for the organization's Houston staging area as of Saturday.

Three more are preparing to head to Texas as well, including Land, who said he is leaving as soon as the paperwork he faxed to Red Cross officials that morning is processed.

Kellum has worked on regional emergencies and Iverson has been on teams sent to help victims of a wildfire and a wind and hail storm, both in South Dakota.

But Land, who became a volunteer in 2002, already has been part of two recent hurricane victim relief campaigns. His first came in the aftermath of Hurricane Francis in September 2004, the second after Hurricane Ivan in March.

"I got a good family at home that's willing to allow me the time to help those in need," said Land, a mechanic and welder by trade, who has slept in emergency relief vehicles at disaster sites for as long as 20 days.

"I've seen cars rolled in big piles like stacks of dominoes," said Land, "and people with that hollow look from losing everything -- they reminded me of zombies."

What motivates him is the satisfaction of helping people recover a sense of self worth even after losing everything else.

"It's not about money. It's all about pride -- just giving them a hot meal or someone to talk to," Land said. "They don't know who to turn to, so we're there for them."

Kellum agrees, and said she hopes there will be a program for disaster victims that lets them participate in rebuilding.

"To mentally bring them back up," Kellum said, "so that they can feel like they're doing something to help their friends and family."