May 1994
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Active retirement
Rocky Mount couple travels to help disaster victims
By Beth Veuiquette
Rocky Mount
/ n 1990, when Bart Shively
retired, he and his wife
Mary wanted to do what
many retired people do —
see the country, meet new people
and do a little volunteer work.
They’ve seen the country and
met lots of people. And they’ve
done a lot of volunteer work.
They accomplished all three
goals hy becoming American Red
Cross volimteers who help victims
of major disasters.
Shively, 66, who retired from
the Army and for 10 years was
headmaster at Enfield Academy
north of Rocky Mount, began look
ing for a place to volunteer once he
had retired for good. His wife sug
gested the Red Cross.
“We beg tor retired people,”
says Rosalie Lemieux, director of
the Rocky Mount chapter.
“They’re our best resource.
'They’re knowledgeable. 'They don’t
have families. They’re the back
bone of the disaster program.”
The Shivelys signed up and
immediately began training to
beeome disaster volunteers. After
taking courses such as
Introduction to Disasters and
Family Services, the couple were
ready to go.
Within a month or two, they left
on their first assignment — a
major flood in Louisiana. While
Bart Shively worked as a case
worker interviewing people who
needed immediate help and visit
ing their houses, Mary Shively
maintained the case files and
financial reports at the on-site
office.
The Red Cross, which usually
arrives at a disaster scene before
federal officials, provides immedi
ate emergency financial assistance
by writing purchase orders that
the clients can take to local mer
chants and purchase what they
need. The Red Cross then pays the
merchant.
The Red Cross pays for cloth
ing, beds, tables, dressers, major
appliances, medicine, food, as well
sueh things as dentures, hearing
aids and glasses.
“On the spot, you give them
everything they need,” Bart
Shively says.
'The disaster victims are some
times confused, depressed and
seared. In Louisiana, the floods
dumped mud and muck into the
home of a recently widowed moth
er of two.
“She was not coping at all with
her circumstances,” says Bart
Shively.
“She just would not leave her
house,” he says. “She was just try
ing to cling to what used to he her
life.”
Shively spent several hours
talking and listening to her, and
finally was able to get her to
accept some help.
“She wrote a letter saying she
appreciated what the Red Cross
did tor her, hut she really appreci
ated having someone to talk to,”
Mary Shively says.
Other people are reluctant to
accept help from the Red Cross.
“They feel like it’s a welfare
thing, but it’s not,” says Bart
Shively. “It’s a gift from the
American people that they donat
ed for this purpose. I always try to
use the term, a neighbor helping a
neither.”
'The Shivelys spent five weeks
in Louisiana. 'The days began early
and ended late. Because disasters
leave many victims homeless, the
Red Cross volunteers do not use
any available local housing.
In Louisiana, the Shivelys
stayed in a motel 75 miles away
and commuted hack and forth
every day, often working 10 hours
at the Red Cross service centers.
“Many of the disaster people
are retired,” Mary Shively says.
“'They get tired, but they just keep
They may admit they’re
exhausted at the end of a long day,
but the volunteers don’t complain
about their work or long hours,
Bart Shively says.
“The only time I’ve ever heard
a disaster worker complain is
when they think somebody out
there isn’t getting what they
need.”
Since their first assignment,
the Shivelys have volunteered in
the wake of hurricanes Andrew
and Emily: in Hillsborough after a
tornado; in the Midwest during the
floods and at a number of fires.
Without volunteers like the
Shivelys, the Red Cross could not
operate, says Lemieux of the
Roclgr Mount chapter. “'There’s no
way that the staff could handle
these disasters. The volunteers
have more training, more expertise
and more time. We just depend on
them so mueh.”
Mary and Bart
Shively are
spending their
retirement
helping others
as volunteers
at the American
Red Cross. The
couple, trained
as volunteer
disaster relief
specialists,
traveled to
Louisiana last
year to assist
flood victims.
Photo by Beth Velliquette
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