GASTONIA, NC (WBTV) -
Local relief workers are busy manning shelters in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
A family of three from the Lincoln County Red Cross chapter flew out Saturday. They're headed to White Plains, New York.
Joe Corvino and his son Paul helped set up a shelter in the Village of Rye Brook. Monday afternoon Corvino said people were trickling in.
"Pretty much right now we are hunkering down because you can't go out and about."
Daughter Lucia Corvino is helping deploy teams to shelters at the Red Cross headquarters in White Plains.
Two others from Gaston County headed out Sunday. They will be setting up a shelter in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
"We will just be moving in cots..setting up a kitchen," Volunteer Morris Teeter said.
Teeter knows every disaster can be different, but the need of those he helps can be similar when it comes to food, shelter and other necessities like medications.
Then there's the need that goes deeper. "We want to give them some hope," Teeter said.
Teeter and volunteer Bobby Whisnant plan to head out Saturday. Whisnant says he's been deployed to a handful of natural disasters across the country. For him, he says, the emotional part of it all never gets easier.
"They [victims] would come up and hug me, crying...makes me cry..knowing that we're there to help."
"They are very good at what they do..they are trained for the panic," Hurricane Katrina survivor Lucius Johnson said.
Johnson evacuated to Charlotte and decided to stay. He brought a bit of New Orleans with him.
He's enjoying success with the Grand Opening his newly expanded restaurant Bite Your Tongue in South End.
But it took coming through some tough times to get here.
"We go through things and it's to strengthen us," Johnson said.
Red Cross volunteers Lucia Corvina, Joe Corvina and Paul Strout make the need to give back a family affair.
"We support each other..we compliment each other," Joe Corvina said. Corvina joined the Red Cross shortly after 9-11. His daughter Lucia and son Paul followed suit.
"I wouldn't be able to do it on my own without someone I know with me," Lucia Corvina said. It will be the first time the 19-year-old has helped during a natural disaster.
Originally from up north, the trio still has family along the Jersey coast. Joe Corvino says they've been preparing for days. Once winds reach 50 miles per hour, he says bridges around New Jersey will close. He says his family will leave before then.
The Red Cross locally says it's still in a monitoring phase. Two feeding vehicles with teams of two are on standby.
The agency is always looking for volunteers.
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