Livermore man on Red Cross disaster team

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Sep 15, 2005 | by Eleni Economides, CORRESPONDENT

LIVERMORE -- When Mark Johnston began watching coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the images he saw of children and the elderly convinced him to do something drastic.

The Livermore man immediately picked up the phone and began the application process to enlist as a disaster area volunteer for the American Red Cross. Johnston, the owner of two Coldstone Creamery locations in Fremont, is one of more than 100 volunteers who have enlisted in the Red Cross' Deployment to the Disaster Area program to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 1,000 have completed the walk-in application process since Sept. 4.

Because Johnson has completed the application and training process, his cell phone can ring at any minute, and he'll be on the first plane to Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama.

"Dead bodies don't bother me," he says. "I can handle it because those people need help."

Although Johnston's family is concerned about the conditions he'll face as a volunteer, they know there's no stopping him.

"They don't want me to go," he says, somberly. "But they have also realized this is something I've already decided I'm going to do."

Ashley Sturm, 19, works at the Coldstone Fremont Hub location and is joining other employees to help out any way she can while Johnston is gone.

"Mark is doing a great thing," she says. "He has a new business he is leaving to help people in need. It's an inspiration because he's such a great person."

An Eagle Scout, Johnston recently returned from Boy Scout leadership training camp, and his backpack is still by the door at home.

"Most of the things I used camping I'll bring with me to the Gulf," he says. "I've even got a water purifier. I have everything I need, and I'm ready. I want to help."

For more information on how to become a disaster area volunteer, contact the Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org or (415) 427-8000.