(Editor's Note: Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans late last night as a Category 1 storm on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005, and only one week before the anniversaries of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which pounded the gulf coast in 2008. This is a first-person account by TIMES NEWS reporter Andrew Leibenguth, who volunteered as a national disaster responder and shelter manager with the American Red Cross during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.)

Being my first time serving as a volunteer disaster responder with the American Red Cross, I didn't know what to expect when I was asked to fly down to Louisiana in support of their disaster preparation and shelter operations during Hurricanes Ike and Gustav in 2008. It became very clear to me when I arrived what was coming my way, as most of the tragic devastation still remained from Hurricane Katrina that hit the region.Already having received shelter operations training and other training from the American Red Cross, I spent the first few days helping at a number of small pre-evacuation Red Cross shelters.At these shelters, we were constantly given alerts of tornadoes in the area. Having lived in Florida for the first 11 years of my life, I was used to hearing tornado warnings; but had never actually seen one. About a week into shelter operations at one of the shelters I was at, fellow volunteers yelled, "Tornado, tornado!"Not believing them, I looked outside the front doors of the shelter to the sight of a tornado barreling down on us. Having done drills in preparation for this, we quickly rounded up all the residents and fellow volunteers and went to our designated locations. Luckily the damage from the tornado was very minimal as it miraculously jumped over our shelter.I spent about another week helping at various pre-evacuation shelters. Unexpectedly, my actions at these shelters resulted in my being promoted to shelter manager at a larger pre-evacuation shelter located in a community north of New Orleans. Upon arrival at this shelter, I was given a staff of 12 fellow volunteers, ranging from medical, mental health and general laborers. This shelter, located at a community center, was overrun with problems, which included no power or air conditioning. Plus, the current Red Cross volunteers at the shelter hadn't had a break in about four days.Having served eight years in the Marine Corps and still filled with plenty of hyper-anxiety from Iraq, I considered myself more than qualified to get things running smoothly. Proving myself right, I had the shelter running trouble free in less than a few hours.After riding out Hurricane Gustav, I prepared to shut down my shelter in preparation for new volunteer assignments at post evacuation shelters on the other side of the Lousiana's Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. This was where most of the flooding and damage occurred.I also remember working together with New Orleans Salvation Army volunteers as well, as I am also a local disaster responder with the Tamaqua Salvation Army.Surprisingly, the American Red Cross immediately assigned me as a shelter manager of an even larger post evacuation shelter in New Orleans. Unannounced to me, this was the only evacuation shelter in New Orleans following the hurricane and in preparation of Hurricane Ike, which was only a week away.Upon arrival at my new shelter, which was a very old community shelter, I was quick to see many serious issues. There was no power, air conditioning, no showers, food or clean water at the shelter when my staff and I arrived. In a disaster, counties (they call them parishes in Louisiana) and local Emergency Management Agencies (EMA) are required to provide the American Red Cross an operating facility and three days of food and water. After that, we, American Red Cross are completely self supporting. To make things worse, the radio stations and news channels were announcing my shelter as the place to evacuate to until flood levels receded and people could get back to their homes. The only supplies we had were 300 cots, dropped off by the Army National Guard.Luckily, before we left, I prepared for the worst and had my staff of volunteers cram hundreds of boxes of MRE (meals ready to eat) and cases of bottled water into our rental cars before we left for our new shelter. Apparently, my gamble was correct, as this allowed for enough food and water for all the arriving evacuees for three days.I spent the first few days restoring power and resolving many of the other issues at the shelter.Having temperatures reach 90 degrees at night, I was frustrated that the community center's air conditioning wasn't functioning. The second night of operations, I told my staff that we were going to find a Wal-Mart and purchase fans. After traveling over 80 miles to the closest Wal-Mart, we (using a Red Cross credit card) purchased over 30 rotating fans. While all the shelter residents were sleeping, four of us spent the next few hours putting all the fans together and staging them around the shelter. It was a great feeling to see over 240 evacuees awake to the feeling of cool air blowing on them.After the second day, everything was running the way I wanted. My shelter had power and we were providing clean water, warm food, outside tented showers, working air conditioning and even entertainment. I utilized many outside assets, as I worked with local municipalities, organizations and churches to provide these necessities to resident evacuees of my shelter. I even delegated two volunteers to gather entertainment for the residents and to provide regular disaster aftermath and travel updates.I saw all the evacuees and fellow volunteers as family. I went out of my way to do as much as I could for them, always wishing I could do more. I recalled only sleeping an hour or two a day the first week at my New Orleans shelter.I was so close to some of the evacuees and staff, that both they and I would have tears in our eyes when we said our goodbyes.After volunteering over a month, I eventually ended my assignment and flew back home to Tamaqua.Even though hurricanes Gustav and Ike weren't as powerful as Hurricane Katrina was in 2005; in total, 348 deaths and $44 billion in damage had been attributed the them.If you want to volunteer with the Schuylkill/Berks chapter of the American Red Cross or Tamaqua Salvation Army, feel free to call me at (570) 668-1234.