Red Cross CEO recalls bombing

By Bryan Dean

Published: April 20, 2005

Debbie Hampton remembers when she didn't take disaster drills quite so seriously.

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Hampton, chief executive of the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma, coordinated volunteers 10 years ago when a bomb ripped into the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

She said the bombing forever changed the Red Cross and the volunteers who helped in the relief efforts.

"Prior to the bombing, we never thought anything like this would happen here," Hampton said. "We now have a whole different opinion about being involved in disaster relief and disaster exercises. You really take things a little more seriously."

Hampton was the human resources director for the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma in April 1995. She said she was overwhelmed by the response.

"I had the honor of seeing how good people could be," she said. "We had over 9,700 spontaneous volunteers. The farthest someone traveled to respond was from Australia."

The need was overwhelming. Survivors had medical needs. Family members needed support. Those who sifted through rubble needed food, water and equipment.

"There really wasn't a request I can think of that we didn't try to meet," Hampton said. "There is just so much that goes into a disaster of that magnitude."

One of the biggest needs in the weeks, months and years after the bombing was counseling for those touched by the disaster. Hampton said the need for counseling still spikes as anniversaries approach.

"You are going to see people needing counseling just on a short-term basis," Hampton said. "The highest our case load has been is 1,500 families. That's down to 52."

One of the people who needed support was Diane Leonard. Her husband, Don, was killed in the bombing. She said she doesn't know what she would have done without help from the Red Cross and other relief groups.

"I remember very well that the outpouring was what helped me hang on during those days of waiting for my husband's body to be found," Leonard said. "It absolutely helped me to continue to hang on. It meant the world to me."

It meant so much that Leonard became a volunteer six years later when terrorists attacked on 9/11.

Hampton said Leonard was one of 13 family members who went to New York to be there for those who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center. Leonard's only training was going through the same thing herself.

"The most important thing is having someone close by that you know understands," Leonard said. "So many people want to council you or support you, but if you know they haven't been through something similar, it's just not the same as being with someone that totally understands."

The response after the bombing became a model for the Red Cross. Hampton said the central Oklahoma chapter shares its experience with other chapters.