 Today, we are waiting on a storm, which we've been doing for, seems like forever. And this one is Ophelia, Olivia, Olivia, I'll get it right. And we are going to talk to a very dear friend, and all of you know I only talk to dear friends. And this today is Paul Clink, and he is the manager of the Red Cross Shelter in Waianae. Hello Paul, it is so, well it's always a delight to talk to you, but just so our audience knows that we talked to you exactly a year ago, almost to the day, when you were doing this very thing in Houston. Do you remember? Like it was yesterday. So tell us about Paul and all of this volunteer work that you do with the Red Cross. It is so precious. Well I started volunteering as an event-based volunteer back in 86 for the eruption over on the Big Island, which I am currently deployed at. I was just home, coming home for a four-day rest. I've been deployed up, with Team Rubicon at Red Cross for over 130 days, direct straight from May 3rd until today. And so I came home for a rest, and then the storm came in, so I was requested to go ahead and manage shelters for Olivia here on Oahu, and originally I was going to shelter, manage in Waianae, but then there was a bigger need between Kanyohi and Kailua, so I've been floating between the three, and I'm managing the shelter as of 10 o'clock last night, until now, in Kanyohi at the Kanyohi Rec Center, and we have clients who have come in out of the storm to find safety and security. We're just evacuation centers though, these aren't full-blown shelters. Shelters come after the event, after disaster assessment takes place, and we find the needs our clients have, and then we may or may not open a shelter, depending on what happens after the storm. The effects of the storm are just starting to trickle in now, no pun intended, and the major parts of the storm that will be coming to Oahu, our best guess is going to happen between now and 10 o'clock tonight, and right now it's storming pretty good, so this is just a little trickle that's going to be quite a downpour, and there's going to be major risks of flooding and so on. Well, I came to the studio today on the bus because where I live, there were already wind all night, and there were branches down and whatnot, so it was safer to ride the bus, and even when I got to town early this morning, it was lovely in town, and then by the time I got here, it was a mess. So what, now, are your facilities friendly, animal friendly? Our particular shelter in Kaniyia is not, there are some that may be, they're listed and have a pee next to them. Again, this is my, this should be over in the next day or so, and then I fly back to the Big Island to my original deployment, which I, like I said, I've been there a third of the year helping out with the eruption of evacuees in Tohoa, Khao, and areas on the Big Island that were affected by the volcano. Then, of course, we had the threat of Hurricane Hector, and then we had the passing storm, which ended up drenching and flooding Hilo horribly with Hurricane Lane, and now that's what we're experiencing here on Oahu, where the outer rain bands of what was Hurricane Olivia announced the tropical storm, and it's solving, and seems like it's going very slowly, stuck between the Big Island Maui and heading west towards Oahu, so only God knows what's going to happen next, but we're prepared and, you know, we've done everything we can to keep the community safe, and we have shelters open, we have eight shelters open right now. Where are they? You said you have eight, you said eight, where are they? Yes, we currently have eight shelters throughout Oahu. I don't have the list for Neighbor Island, but I know that Oahu was open. Yeah, on Oahu, the eight shelters that we have are in, of course, the one I'm in, Kaneohe, Brigham Young University has one. Kailua District Park is one. Again, as I mentioned, Kaneohe District Park, Ben-Eva, Mahiko District Park, Klihi Valley District Park, Manoa Valley District Park, Wahiwa District Park, and of course, Waianae District Park, as we've said it about earlier. Yes. They're all open and ready for people that need to come in out of the rain. These are not shelters. These are just evacuation centers for people to come in out of the danger of the storm, but they still need to bring their own food, water, anything they need for the temporary time to get out of the storm. People are being requested to shelter in place at their home, but for any reason, they don't feel safe enough for their own homes because of proximity to moving streams or waterways or ponding or flooding or other such issues, single wall construction, things like that with the wind and the winds will be picking up quite a bit later, I believe. Then they would have to come in to our shelters, but again, they would have to come in fully equipped to sustain themselves. And then once the storm has passed, we'll send out a disaster assessment team to then go and see the conditions of their homes or their neighborhoods to see if they can return. And if not, then there may or may not be a decision to open up shelters that would be longer than just the evacuation center would be open. Now you are with the Red Cross. And how did the Red Cross pay for all of this? I mean, it costs money. I mean, Red Cross is 100% handled by donations. There's no other source of revenue other than donations. They're a non-government organization. And so volunteers like me volunteer our time. And again, it's not just volunteering time. I'm volunteering and missing a lot of goodnight kisses from my three-year-old daughter. A lot of goodnight kisses from my much, much better half echo. Missing waking up with everybody, having breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, and taking care of family. So the volunteers are probably the biggest source of revenue saving and value. And then, of course, the financial sustainability is based on donations. And I also volunteer with another non-profit organization, non-government organization, called Team Rubicon, when I also volunteered with them in Houston in Kauai. Oh, I remember that. In the Big Island. The Rubicon. Right? Rubicon. But Team Rubicon's more work boots out in the field. And Red Cross is more, you know, tending to people. Shelterings are primary functions. And that sheltering, believe it or not, is not just, you know, welcoming people in and sending them on a pizza, you know, on a chair, on a cot or anything like that. Actually, at evacuation centers, we don't even have cops, except for staff like me that sleep overnight. But what happens is you're really providing what's called psychological first aid, because these people, no one's born with a manual on how to deal with disasters, like storms, like the one we're having right now. So being there to lend a helping hand and two open ears and just listen to how they feel and what they're going through. So they feel heard. They understand you didn't just listen to listen, but listen to understand what they're going through and have some empathy or sympathy if you have an experience of what they've gone through. That's probably the biggest function we create for people to give them a sense of safety, not just of physical safety, but emotional and psychological safety as well. Now, what is your training prior to being the world's best volunteer? At least, I think the world's best volunteer. Thank you. You're too nice. Red Cross has a very, very, very friendly, easy, but thorough and seriously audited training procedure for anyone to have a vest on. So not only do you go through a thorough background check, but you'll be around men, women and children and families who are sensitive and are going through a disaster. But more importantly, they are as importantly, they send you and put you through training of role playing as well as lots of online training. Also, they recommend learning the different larger systems, like you call the ICS, the incident command system or Nixie, which is similar. And so that you understand what's going on around you in the organization itself. So all these trains are available. So volunteers of Red Cross at no charge so that you can become very, very well versed and very clear on the training before you're ever exposed or client facing so that and actually, while you're training and not really prepared for client facing work, there's a lot of other work that Red Cross requires and volunteers for telephone calls, accounting, paperwork, there's rings and rings if they work to everything that we do pretty much for accountability and sustainability and also making sure that we're able to do the donors and accounting of where their money's being stewarded. And again, we're very much stewards of the donated money because every penny we spend towards a client with donated by somebody for the purpose of helping someone so there's no waste or as well as much as possible, no waste and really effective and efficient use of funds. That's very important to us because we're stewards of that money. I'm a donor through time and also I try to throw in money when I can. And I would hate to think any volunteers or administrators that Red Cross were doing anything but being stewards of our money and 95% or higher of the staff of Red Cross are volunteers. So even at high, very, very high level in the organization, there's people who are volunteers at those highest level, not just paid and have a regular salary. They go in to help like myself for strategic planning for all kinds of other situations that you wouldn't imagine a volunteer to do. But there are volunteers like myself that help with corporate structure, strategic planning and so on so that they can curtail costs and focus any donated money. Again, back on clients can use the most. Well, now how in the world could you have ever trained for what you went through in Houston last year? How that's so different from anything around a lot of it play acting. We actually do we do drive runs, we do non real world experiences with with all their volunteers pretending their clients. So that it's not a total shock but nothing can prepare you for each one of these unique situations. Well, you know, you are so blessed. And I am so honored to have you as a friend and people like you that and whenever the need you are there, that is just wonderful. I am honored and so proud of you. And now when you leave, here you go back to the big island. Is that it? Yeah, I had to report back to my Pahola shelter Friday noon. That shows the last shelter for the eruption will be closing Monday at noon. And we'll be saying goodbye to our last few clients that are getting back to their new normal now we service over 1000 clients in the last four or four some months. And watching them come into a shelter so frazzled so overwhelmed and so in some cases just completely by the loss of every material thing they had in their life and see them leaving going to a new home and new job or new experience and having had felt the love and care of the local community who come in and done yoga classes and high tea classes and the positive. And you know, I've even had homeless people come to volunteer at the shelters, looking at people in the shelter of being worse off than them. And where else can the world can that happen? But when you see the exercise called Oh, in Hawaii, which you exemplify yourself Marsha all the time. So you get it. And it's a beautiful thing to see. And there's different flavors of it. Because in Houston, it would be the southern type of hospitality in Florida. It's another type of have you been to Florida? Also, Americans come together. Yes, I've been deployed all over the United States have been to Orville for the dam, a potential dam break, of course, I was in Houston, I've been no, they put me wherever I'm needed. But I've been blessed by so many people, especially in Hawaii, and with the Aloha spirit, it really is incumbent upon me to pay it forward, you know, back to the community, wherever I plan. And with my handicaps and trouble, I can't really, I haven't been able to really work effectively. But as a volunteer, there's a lot less expectations and should not get paid anything. I'm able to do a lot more a lot more comfortably and work on my own physical health schedule, and help many people I'm doing it with. And again, I'm just a red vest, that's not Paul quink per se. Yes, I've gone through a lot of the training, I have all the ICS training, I train other people now. But the bottom line is that everybody has that I'm not I'm just another red vest that you wouldn't have one on unless you're trained. So it's Red Cross and the red vests that really deserve all the credit. I'm just another red vest, and I'm just doing what I can to help and the payback society for all the blessings they've given me, like when my wife passed away, when you know, the whole community came up behind my son and I, Leo, and now that I have a new, a new life mate, like the love of my life again, with echo and our three year old daughter legacy. I'm so blessed. I have to pay it forward. It's not an option. And all the volunteers feel I think the same way that we're just paying it forward to give back blessings that we've received from society as well. Well, well, we have exactly 30 seconds. So real quick, tell us about the Rubicon. Was that it? A team Rubicon. Yes, Rubicon or you VIP on USA.org. The first response, first responder disaster response team that do the heavy lifting. We really do. We a lot of times we will get to locations even before our first responders. And we have a chainsaw crew, we have muck out crews, we go in and do search and rescue, we do all kinds of interesting work that's really required upfront, or then again, thereafter where we have to clean up, take mud out of people's homes, rebuild homes, use chainsaw, the clear roads and those down trees you're talking about. Team Rubicon was going at the behest of search or to civil defense, or on our own to clear roads and properties and help people get back on their feet structurally. Yeah, we we tried to talk to you when you on Kauai in April. But we couldn't get a connection. Yeah, we couldn't get a connection. Well, listen, sweetheart, I'm surprised we did today. I'm here for you always. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure talking to you. And keep up the good work. Aloha. You got it. Mr. Duda talks to you. Love you. Take care of you. Aloha. And we'll see you next time.