PINE ISLAND, Fla. - When a disaster strikes one of the first responders on the scene is the American Red Cross. One local woman was so touched with the work they did after Hurricane Charley, she not only became involved, but she now runs disaster response operations in Lee County.

A family emergency took Carlene Sharples and her husband away from their Pine Island home when Hurricane Charley hit. The only updates they were getting in New Jersey, were from the internet.

"In fact WINK, I was able to tap into the website and actually watch the storm approach on that. So I was sitting up there, you know, 1300 miles away just hoping and praying nothing was happening to my neighbors, nothing would happen to my house, or at least, what happened to my house was minimal. But that probably was one of the most terrifying days of my life," Carlene recalled. "When Wayne, my next door neighbor called, after Charley had passed to say that I still had a house, I mean it was just like a miracle."

But when Carlene came home a few days later, what she saw was mass destruction.

"Unbelievable. Already there were mountains of debris in front of every home all the way down the island."

While she and her neighbors were cleaning up and rebuilding there was a beacon of hope: the American Red Cross Disaster Team.

"They were wonderful. Everyday about the same time, you'd see the emergency response vehicle coming down the street; if the driver saw people up on ladders working, he would tell them to get down, come have something cold to drink... it was so hot that summer. Just so hot. it's like all the hurricanes just sucked every bit of breeze out of the air," Carlene said. "It got to the point where you kind of look forward to them everyday because that was a good excuse for a break."

And it was because of the Red Cross that she decided it was time to give back. The following year she and her husband both signed up to volunteer with the American Red Cross and haven't looked back.

"It's wonderful. I can't describe the feeling... you're catching people at the worst moment of their lives and you're able to work with them, kind of turn them around, and get them back on the road to recovery and with getting on with their lives. I mean, this is a terrible time for them and we're there to help. That's the good thing about the Red Cross, no matter what area you work in, in the Red Cross, there's one goal: and that's to help people," Carlene explained.

Carlene puts in 40-plus hours a week at the Red Cross heading the disaster relief programs in Lee County and she doesn't get paid a cent. It's all volunteer work. The Red Cross is always in need of more volunteers and you can put in as little or as much time as you want.

For more information on how to volunteer, check out the American Red Cross link.