The 9-11 and tsunami disasters were just warm-ups for Hurricane Katrina in terms of American Red Cross relief, according to Kevin Doroski, executive director of the Oregon Mountain River Red Cross chapter.

Doroski paid a visit to Wallowa County last Friday to touch bases with local volunteers, who have belonged to the Bend-based Mountain River chapter for about two years.

“Both locally and nationally it’s been a busy year,” Doroski said.

He said that the chapter had trained 205 new emergency volunteers and sent 85 to the Gulf Coast region in response to the hurricanes that hit last summer, in addition to providing assistance to about 35 hurricane victims who found either temporary or permanent refuge within the chapter, which includes 13 Oregon counties.

Two volunteers from Wallowa County, Tom Uchison and Dick Burch – who went on two different occasions – traveled to the hurricane-struck region to help in the Red Cross effort. In addition, Doroski said that eight to 10 new volunteers were trained in the county.

“The chapter also raised $1 million dollars for Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma – the sisters – which was off the chart for us. People were so generous,” Doroski said.

He pointed to the $500,000-plus donated within the chapter for tsunami relief in Southeast Asia as the closest in terms of money raised.

Nationwide over $2 billion was donated to Red Cross for the hurricane relief effort, and Doroski said only the infrastructure build up within the organization because of the generosity of 9-11 and tsunami disasters enabled the Red Cross to deal with that level of response.

He noted that Red Cross was only part of an enormous effort that included many relief organizations as well as an unprecedented grass roots response in the devastated region.

Two days before his Wallowa County visit, Doroski accepted a national award on behalf of the chapter from the director of operations for the Red Cross’ Western Service Area. “It was recognition that we excelled in our response to Hurricane Katrina,” Doroski said.

The executive director noted that the Wallowa County Red Cross chapter was one of the only all-volunteer chapters left in the state when it decided to disband and join the Mountain River Chapter on July 1, 2003.

The new relationship was part of a nationwide trend toward consolidating Red Cross chapters to reduce the volume of paperwork flowing to the national office and because of the advances in communication technology.

“It’s more efficient and more cost-efficient,” Doroski said, noting that local volunteers still respond to help out in local emergencies, such as fires, as well as conduct first aid classes and help coordinate regular blood drives.

Doroski said one purpose of his visit to Wallowa County was to extend thanks to the local volunteers as well as to the community and everyone who donates to the Red Cross for their support.