In the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Judy Judes’ life was chaotic. Living in a warehouse turned shelter with 2,000 other volunteers, Judes was conducting the most important mission of her life in the flood-devastated bayous of southern Louisiana.

Judes was searching for a newborn preemie who had been separated from his mother when the hurricane hit.

The little boy, born just days before the eye of the hurricane struck Buras, La., was on a respirator at New Orleans Hospital when the city lost power. While the distressed mother was convinced he died, the grandmother held out hope and requested the American Red Cross’ assistance in finding her grandson.

After a desperate search, Judes found the baby alive and well in a Baton Rouge hospital and was able to reunite him with his mother.

“That’s the one that keeps you going every time you walk out the door,” Judes said.

Judes, a volunteer turned national employee of the American Red Cross, has stories to last a lifetime from the four weeks in September 2005 she spent along the Gulf Coast. They are stored in her memory between other disasters — tornados, wildfires, floods, and a bridge collapse.

For Judes, serving on American Red Cross’ disaster relief teams is an opportunity for her to continue a family legacy of humanitarianism and volunteerism.

She travels to places where most people never go or wish to be. She sees the tears of suffering, the shock of loss, the furrowed brows of worry and also the gratitude of newly found hope.

In its 127th year, the American Red Cross is the nation’s premier humanitarian organization to provide relief to victims of disaster and to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. March, as national Red Cross Month, is a good opportunity to recall the services provided by an organization of volunteers.

“This is the heart and soul and the heartbeat of America — our volunteers. They are there because they care...and without them we don’t have an organization,” she said.

Read the complete story in the March 20 Independent Review print edition.