Bob and LaVonne Brinkman are home again from helping at another natural disaster.

This time, it was the Red River Valley in northwest Minnesota, where flooding threatened the Fargo-Moorhead cities.

They have done this before: Hurricane Ivan in Alabama, Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Alabama, floods at Rushford, Austin and Owatonna and other emergencies throughout Mower County.

Helping the victims of disasters is what they do as members of the Disaster Action Team of the Mower County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Bob is a retired banker and LaVonne is a retired vision and hearing specialist.

They each retired in 2000 from their careers and became Red Cross volunteers.

“When I retired from banking at the end of 2000, I came down here,” he said Friday morning during an interview at the Red Cross headquarters. “I had served on the United Way board as the Red Cross liaison, so I was familiar with the Red. Cross.”

LaVonne had been a long-time blood donor for the chapter.

At the time, Elaine Hansen, the chapter’s executive director, and long-time volunteer and board member, Jim Grunewald, were implementing the new Disaster Action Team (DAT) program — trained volunteers in Mower County communities who could offer immediate response in times of disasters both in Mower County and around the nation.

It was work the Brinkmans wanted in their retirement.

Bob helped start the chapter’s disaster services committee to oversee DAT work.

“Without Bob and LaVonne, we wouldn’t have the Disaster Action Team program we have in Mower County,” Hansen said of the Brinkmans’ early efforts. “They did such a good job from that point on, that they decided they would like to help at a hurricane,”

DAT grew exponentially from the time the Brinkmans joined the effort.

Today, there are DAT teams in Lyle, Rose Creek, Adams, LeRoy and Austin, plus other teams that cover multiple communities.

There are 74 volunteers, who have undergone disaster services training, but none who have immersed themselves more than the Brinkmans.

How the couple became involved in assisting Red Cross efforts at Fargo-Moorhead is an example of the program’s inner-workings.

“We post our availability on the Red Cross network and they call when they need us,” Bob said.

The Red Cross needed the Brinkmans Saturday, March 28, when flood waters threatened the Red River Valley in northwest Minnesota.

Hansen called the couple, who left immediately for the flood-stricken area.

When they got there, the Brinkmans were assigned to shelter operations for special needs individuals at Cheney Middle School outside the flood danger area in West Fargo.

They worked 13- and nine-hour shifts.

“We had to do thorough background checks on each and every person who came to the shelter,” said LaVonne.

“They were very anxious,” Bob said. “Our job was to calm them down and work with the mental health workers to ensure they would be safe.”

There were other Red Cross disaster services volunteers from “all over,” according to Bob, who mentioned Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio and other states of origin.

“It was kind of an unusual situation,” Bob said. “We were all there prepared for a big disaster m which didn’t happen. The levees and dikes all held. The water level crested and have been receding ever since.”

Among the hardest-working volunteers in the middle of the disaster were two grandchildren of the Brinkmans who attend North Dakota State University and helped fill sandbags.

Twelve inches of snow complicated outdoor relief efforts, but the anticipated strong winds didn’t materialize to wash flood waters over the levees and dikes.

The Brinkmans were allowed to leave the area Thursday after completing their paperwork required of the national Red Cross.

“Everybody in the middle school shelter when they were allowed to return to their homes,” LaVonne said.

The Brinkmans came away from their latest disaster services experience more reinforced than ever in their beliefs the Red Cross had things under control as best they could under the circumstances.

“The Red Cross was ready,” Bob said.

Back home in Austin, there was more debriefing by the local chapter’s volunteers.

Anyone who wonders why the couple is so eager to get involved in national disasters as Red Cross volunteers need only to hear Bob tell why.

“It gives you a really good feeling,” said Bob. “It makes the heart work.”

“It’s very gratifying to see people comforted in situations like that,” said LaVonne. “That’s what we’re on this Earth for.”