now we move to russ paulsen. russ paulsen: thank you for inviting the red cross to talk with our partners. i am executive director of community preparedness at the right cost. before this, i had the honor of leading the recovery after hurricanes katrina, wilma, and rita. after 26 years, i have seen the importance of small businesses after disasters. our goal is to make sure when disaster strikes, people have a warm, safe, and dry place to go with their families, something to eat and somewhere to go to. we do this 70,000 times a year on average. we served over 12,000 meals and snacks in north louisiana. we keep that promise after home fires that have been about every eight minutes every day, every year. we can only do this because of the financial generosity of the american people, and heroic actions of volunteers, americorps members and employees. like kay wilkins, who organized her team to open up shelters throughout south louisiana after katrina came through. not seeing her family for days, a young woman who ha

now we move to russ paulsen. russ paulsen: thank you for inviting the red cross to talk with our partners. i am executive director of community preparedness at the right cost. before this, i had the honor of recovery after hurricanes katrina, wilma, and rita. after 26 years, i have seen the importance of small businesses after disasters. our goal is to make sure when disaster strikes, people have a warm, safe, and dry place to go with their families, something to eat and somewhere to go to. we do this 70,000 times a year on average. we served over 12,000 meals and snacks in north louisiana. we keep that promise after home fires that have been about every eight minutes every day, every year. because of do this the financial generosity of the american people, and heroic actions of volunteers, americorps members and employees. wilkins, who organized her team to open up shelters throughout south louisiana after katrina came through. not seeing her family for days, a young woman who had never lived away from home befo

my name is russ paulsen. i'm executive director at the red cross. in 26 years with the red cross, i've seen the importance of small business recovery throughout the country. we do it about 70,000 times a year on average. we just did it after red river floods where we opened three shelters in north louisiana. and we keep that promise after home fires across the country that happen about every eight minutes every day every year. we can only do this because of the financial generosity of the american people and sometimes heroic actions of volunteers, americorps members and our employees. kay wilkins organized her team to open up shelters throughout south louisiana after katrina came through or while it came through. not seeing her family for days. a young woman who never lived away from home before she came to the new orleans area to be a red cross americorps member, who after being there for two weeks was sent to run a shelter at north shore and who had to deal with the needs of all sorts of people, including helping a gentleman who didn't have his ho