MOUNT HERMON, LA. If ever a region needed a grassroots effort to meet the primitive needs of food, water and shelter, it is southeastern Louisiana . In the wake of Hurricane Katrina , the American Red Cross responded in ways big and small.

The organization is massive and, as one staffer put it, like a "well-oiled wheel" that's been through enough disasters to know what to do. But it also must rely on old-fa...