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Red Cross Moment —
'The Best Cup of Coffee I Ever Had'
Allan Richards of Auburndale remembers Red Cross
coffee on a cold morning after the 1997 flood in North Dakota
Editor's
note: In April 1997, the Red River of the North crested at more
than 54 feet, affecting Fargo, N.D., and Winnipeg, Canada, and
completely flooding Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks,
Minn. More than 50,000 people evacuated from Grand Forks and
East Grand Forks — the largest displacement of an American
city prior to Hurricane Katrina. At the time, Allan Richards
of Auburndale, Fla., was retired from the insurance industry,
but worked as a compensated volunteer for the company's catastrophe
services team. He was asked to work this disaster and went to
trudge through frigid receding flood and sewer waters to help
people affected by the flood, people who had lost everything
to water damage and contamination. Later that year, he recalled
one very cold day, and one very good cup of coffee from warms
hearts working for the Red Cross:
In
the past, I have been asked many times, as you have, "Was that a good cup of coffee?" And
my answer is pretty much the same: "I've had so many cups
of coffee, I wouldn't know a 'good' cup if it bit me."
Well, this year [1997] I can say I had the best cup of coffee
I've ever had, and I won't forget it. I drank it standing in a cold, windy
rain, standing on a mud covered street with debris piled five feet high on every
berm as far as you could see.
I was in Grand Forks, N.D., along with hundreds of volunteers
and other workers trying to help after the flood. The coffee was in a slightly
crushed paper cup, handed to me through the serving window of an American Red
Cross Emergency Services van by a volunteer that I am sure was as tired and cold
as I was.
And that was the BEST cup of coffee! What did it taste like?
I have no idea, and it does not matter. I'll remember it.
So, as we enter this [holiday] season, please remember those
who need a little extra help, a kind thought, a gentle hello, or maybe an extra
prayer. And as you prepare to make any donations, know that they will be well
used by the various charity groups.
Picture your town, flooded, with everything gone, and picture
a Red Cross or Salvation Army van in every other block, handing food out to you
and your friends while you try to salvage what is left of your life, because
they will be there if you need them.
I know I'll be able to picture it. It will be easy, just look
at a cup of coffee.
Reprinted with
permission from Allan Richards, contributor to "The RC Traveler," newsletter
of The RC Travel Club Inc. Membership. Originally published December 1997.