Coralie Chun Matayoshi, chief executive officer of the Hawai'i chapter of the American Red Cross, is among Hawai'i personnel participating in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. In response to a recent request for an interview, she sent this e-mail to The Advertiser:

Yesterday (Sept. 2) I worked at the Riverside Center Shelter in Baton Rouge, La., which is housing about 5,000 people, mostly refugees from New Orleans. Many of them had lost everything they owned.

I met a family who had just moved from Puerto Rico and had only been in the United States for one week before the hurricane hit. There were children who had been separated from their parents during the rescue effort, pregnant women about to give birth, and people who were dazed, hungry, tired, angry and confused.

I distributed blankets and diapers to people and food to a man who couldn't walk because his foot had been injured. His foot was wrapped in a garbage bag held together with masking tape.

As I gazed upon the sea of people sprawled out in the vast arena, I was overwhelmed with emotion. This isn't an ordinary disaster. We are not sheltering people for just a few days or weeks until they can go back to their homes. Most of these people will not have homes to go back to.

One of my fellow Red Cross volunteers from Rochester, N.Y., Aaron Baker, has a brother from New Orleans. Aaron was worried sick about his brother and was rushing to aid in the disaster, when he received a text message from his brother that said, "Help — get me out." At first Aaron thought it was a joke, but as they text-messaged back and forth, he discovered that his brother was one of only two doctors stranded in a hospital with 400 patients and no electricity, food, water or medicine. Aaron was able to reach the proper help to get them all rescued.

At the shelter, I was interviewed live on national television as to why I traveled all the way from Hawai'i to help. I told the reporter that I represented the compassion of the people of Hawai'i, and that when Hurricane Iniki hit, people from all across the country came to our aid.

This was a way to give back, and I am so proud to be able to help.