Who knew that helping out at her church’s distribution of items to Hurricane Katrina survivors in 2005 would lead to Jeanne Reinelt driving an ERV halfway across the country to help people impacted by Hurricane Milton in 2024?

Certainly not her.

Jeanne has always had a servant's heart. Before she joined the American Red Cross in 2010 as a volunteer with the Disaster Action Team, she was helping build houses with Habitat for Humanity. Her doctor told her she needed to do something less strenuous.

Her husband, Doug, joined her with the Red Cross after he retired as a math professor at SMU in 2021. Together, they have trained in many aspects of disaster response, from driving ERVs to feeding and more.

Now, they deploy together. Their first deployment was to Florida for Hurricane Ian, where they fed all over Central and Eastern Florida in either fixed locations or through mobile delivery.

“Yes, we’re off on another adventure helping people,” Jeanne said. “I really feel called to do this. It’s a little scary because you don’t know what you’ll find.”

The ERV is set up to be a feeding truck, so it will deploy to support Red Cross mass care feeding efforts.

The duo is heading toward Tallahassee but understands they need to remain flexible. “You’ll get led to where you need to be,” she explained. They will be in Florida for two weeks, delivering services as needed and where the need is greatest.

 When asked about volunteering with the Red Cross, Jeanne said, “The awesome thing about volunteering with the Red Cross is you get the resources and training from the Red Cross, so you have the skills when you need to put them into action.”

 Best of luck, Jeanne and Doug!