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Local Red Cross Volunteers Head To California

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Oct 24, 2007 5:53 pm US/Eastern

Local Red Cross Volunteers Head To California

Reporting
Don Dahler

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Volunteers unload donated food items for fire evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium October 22, 2007 in San Diego, California.
Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

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Local volunteers are gathering in large numbers to help victims affected by the California wildfires that have charred nearly 700 miles of land and destroyed more than 1,500 homes, causing an estimated $1 billion in total damages.

Many tri-state residents agree there's a universal sense of helplessness while watching something terrible happening to someone us. While most sit home glued to their televisions and computers to keep track of what's happening in California, there are others who feel compelled to do something themselves.

Gail Lazarus of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., is one such person. She leaves Thursday for San Diego, joining forces with the Red Cross to help those in need.

"I'm going as a health servies volunteer," she tells CBS 2. "The less you bring, the better."

The trip is not Lazarus' first with the Red Cross, who ventured to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the south.

"When Katrina hit, I couldn't sit on my nice, comfy couch and watch what was happening to those people and just go through my life. I needed to go," she says.

While Red Cross officials hate to see any tragedy occur, they say they're thrilled to see how many people offer their services when they do.

As heartbreaking as these situations are, 9/11, Katrina, the fires, it always brings out the better part of people," says Bill Young the Director of Emergency Response for the Northern New Jersey Red Cross.

Over 100 volunteers from the are joined the thousands of others already in California now, distributing food and setting up shelters, listening to horror stories about the flames. Even more volunteers are on their way to take over for exhausted relief workers.

"There's nothing more rewarding than helping someone," says Bruce Vesloski, a volunteer from Carle Place on Long Island. "I'm committed to this and I just can't wait to go. And I hope being a Red Cross volunteer from Nassau County, I can make an impact out there."

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