YANKTON, S.D. (KELO.com) Red Cross Volunteer Terry Crandall is now back in Yankton after spending weeks as a counselor in Texas helping Hurricane Harvey victims process the tragedy.
"Almost everyone down there seems to be so resilient. Their ability to bounce back has been phenomenal."
Among his many stories, one really stands out for Crandall. He was in a hard-hit neighborhood of mobile homes in Houston and he spotted a man on a porch, waved at him and the man wanted to talk. He was grieving a daughter who had lived across the street, who was recovering from surgery when Harvey hit.
"Rescuers could not get to her in time, till three days later and she passed away from Sepsis." relates Crandall. The death of his daughter was obviously the man's biggest trouble, but there were others, some much smaller, but when you add them all together: The man had saved and saved to buy his wife a new SUV. She'd driven it one time before Harvey. It was destroyed in the flooding.
Crandall is a licensed professional counselor. He was a high school counselor for 40 years and now uses his skills at the University of South Dakota. This was his first time volunteering for a national disaster.
"I really was a little bit scared going in. I didn't know what to expect. I had no idea. but now, given this experience, I would do it again in a heartbeat." He encourages other mental health professionals in South Dakota to volunteer with the Red Cross.