Hurricane Katrina has or will affect every one of us. We are opening our communities to the influx of people evacuating from the disaster area and are adjusting to the realization that something of this magnitude could happen in our own community.

Kitsap residents are offering time, money, resources and hope to the disaster victims. Kitsap County, its non-profit organizations, government leaders, local businesses owners, individuals and school children are all responding.

The American Red Cross is looking at the immediate needs of the population and has oriented 107 new volunteers in Kitsap County in the past ten days. Training is now taking place to equip these volunteers to deploy and respond to the needs of the affected communities and to relieve those volunteers already in direct service positions. We've joined in a nationwide movement named “Give Help Now” to attract, train and deploy 40,000 new Red Cross volunteers.

L-R Cheryl and Don Stauff of Boston’s Deli and Pizza; Janet Mayberry, Stephen R. Finley of the American Red Cross.

Within hours of an earthquake, tornado, flood or other major disaster —anytime, anywhere nationwide — a comprehensive, volunteer-driven relief system enables the American Red Cross to help people when they need it most. To date, the Red Cross has responded to Hurricane Katrina with 162,000 workers, 2.4 million overnight stays in shelters, thirteen-million meals served and 528,000 cases opened. Locally, we have already opened 31 cases, serving 60 individuals who self-evacuated to the Kitsap area and are staying with family members or friends.

The Kitsap United Way is in the midst of a pivotal fundraising campaign. Supporting 31 member agencies and having faced a difficult fundraising season last year because of an outpouring of funds for the Southeast Asian Tsunami relief efforts, Campaign Chair Hank Mann-Sykes is asking, “Give now and give later. We have to answer the call of this monumental disaster. Do that by stretching. Give what you would normally give to our local charities and give one more time to the hurricane disaster relief.”

The Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management (KCDEM) has executed a large-scale, county-wide effort to deploy emergency volunteers using the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a state-to-state mutual aid agreement. Phyllis Mann, Director of the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management is overseeing the operation and has the approval of each of the County Commissioners and every Mayor in Kitsap County. Mann sees this as a sixth-month project that will evolve as the disaster timeline shifts from immediate response to recovery.

Local businesses are stepping up to help raise money for disaster victims and to help raise awareness of the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way and other relief agencies. Businesses like Boston Pizza in downtown Bremerton are a shining example of how one person's generosity is multiplied and how our community really comes together in a crisis.

Boston Pizza owners Don and Cheryl Stauff called me at the local Red Cross office and said they wanted to help raise money for Katrina victims. Don wanted to do that by donating all sales, tips and donations made over Labor Day weekend to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Because of the store location, on the boardwalk corner of Burwell Street and Washington Ave and because of the annual Blackberry Festival on the waterfront that weekend, we knew it would be a significant fundraiser for the relief fund.

Don and Cheryl's staff donated their time. Don even jumped the gun and started one night early as he saw that his Friday sales were going to be very good. KBSG Radio became aware of the event and started promoting it on the radio station. Local businesses like Hunt Manufactured Homes heard about it on the radio and started promoting it on billboards and signs. Bremerton Bottling donated product. Local newspapers published stories. The restaurant oven was working beyond capacity and blew two capacitors, valve and a switch. Mark-Air of Port Orchard stepped in and repaired the oven and only charged out of pocket expenses. In three days, the effort raised $8,000. According to Don, that Saturday's income exceeded his highest day by $1,000.

Other local businesses have stepped up, or are in the process of raising money for disaster relief. Local banks and Kitsap Credit Union have established themselves as fund collection sites. Washington Mutual matched the first $100,000 donated at its branches. Kitsap Mall joined forces with four bands - The Freddy Pinky Band, Ear Candy, Mercurious and Fiery Groove to produce a benefit concert at Kitsap Mall that raised over $7,000. Numerous restaurants have joined in, not only raising money for the American Red Cross, but also for Salvation Army efforts. Those include: The Club House Grill, Breezy Hill Bistro, and local MacDonald's. Employees from the Boat Shed Restaurant and Badda Boom Badda Bing stepped up with a car wash. North Kitsap Fire and Rescue donated proceeds from its annual “911 Community Breakfast.” Grocery stores and businesses throughout the county are conducting employee campaigns and many are matching employee contributions. To date Pacific Northwest Title, Northrup Grummond, Gilmore Research, Silverdale Red Apple, John L. Scott Real Estate, RE Max and others have completed in-house fundraising drives.

School children throughout the county are collecting coins and cash. One Camp Fire unit helped assemble backpacks to send to school children who had been evacuated. The American Red Cross Youth Corps have had numerous requests to attend community events and help handle donations.

The American Red Cross estimates that more than $2 billion will be required to meet its cost alone for the emergency needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors. This is a sum 20 times greater than the relief provided by the Red Cross for all hurricanes in 2004. This assessment is based on the nearly one million people who require meals, shelter, financial assistance and other essential services over various periods of time.

Whether Kitsap residents physically respond to a call for duty from one of the many disaster relief agencies rolling up their sleeves to assist in the region or whether we reach into our pocketbooks to donate much needed money and resources… our lives have changed.

The message is to be prepared, to be willing to respond and to be proactive in developing our safety net in Kitsap County.