Buying groceries has almost become a dare for Maureen Kerrigan.
Each time she returns home from a Team Rubicon mission and tries to settle in, it feels like the retired suburban Chicago police officer gets called right back out to handle incident command in the wake of another disaster. It’s become such a routine anymore, she has a standing invitation at her best friend’s place for a home-cooked meal as soon as she gets home.
And that’s exactly the way she likes it, she said, even if she is sleeping on a Red Cross cot in Merrillville’s Fire Station #2, where she and her team have set up their home base to help people all over Lake County dig out from the August 11 derecho that left nearly 375,000 customers without power, many for more than two weeks, and buried municipalities under so many felled trees.
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Lake County and its surroundings aren’t new to Kerrigan or Team Rubicon, the Los Angeles-based veteran-led disaster response organization; a team was dispatched to Merrillville for two weeks in June to help with clean-up after the June 11 tornado, for which the town is still attempting to get back to normal, she said.
“We got in, and (Merrillville town administrators) said, ‘You’re back!’” Kerrigan said with a laugh Thursday while out on a job in Schererville, where six volunteers from as near as Chicago and as far as Hawaii took their chainsaws to a giant oak tree that didn’t survive the storm. “We’ve already helped 55 individual residences in Lake County, and we’ve now set up a separate office in Gary with 30 volunteers just for it.
“I’ve been to clean-up from Hurricane Helene, and I was in Mayfield, Kentucky, after the tornado there. This (here in Lake County) is bad.”
Merrillville Town Council President Rick Bella, D-5, is grateful for the help, and said Team Rubicon has provided “remarkable helping hands” for the town’s residents.
“They have been assisting residents with a variety of tasks starting with the June 11 tornadoes,” Bella said, adding that when the Aug. 11 derecho hit, “they reached out to us asking if they could come back to assist.”
“The town would not have been able to do all that the ‘Team’ has done, and we can’t thank them enough for their caring work assisting residents for no charge!” Bella added. “They have been sleeping in our fire station and working hard each day. It’s been remarkable. Thank you to each and every one of them.”
After the storm hit, Team Rubicon, whose 200,000-volunteer base is made up of mostly but not exclusively veterans and retired law enforcement, sent out on Aug. 14 a team of three to start assessing the damage, Kerrigan said. They started in LaPorte and made their way west to the Illinois border, trying to quantify how many homes were hit and who from those homes was out trying to get a handle on the damage.
“We had our initial crew from Indiana, but then we started flying in people immediately,” Kerrigan said. “The emergency managers at county and local levels are the ones who tell us who’s calling for help.”
If a group of volunteers coming to your house to clean up the overwhelming amount of tree debris in your yard free of charge sounds too good to be true, Team Rubicon’s services are the exception to the rule, but you’d be surprised at the pushback they get, at least at first, Kerrigan pointed out.
“We’ll show up, and people will say, ‘Sure, you do it for free,’” she said. “But once we tell them this is who we are and this is what we want to do, there’s a lot less resistance, which is a big deal, especially when we’re trying to help first responders who don’t always ask for help.”
And there have been some near-impossible situations the volunteers have come upon this time around, she added, like one area where the properties were pie-shaped and all the downed trees seemed to have gotten entangled into the tightest possible spot. But that’s what makes being part of the team so worth it.
“I’ve been with Team Rubicon for five years, and being able to give back to people who need it is so worth the weeks away from home,” she said. “I’ve travelled all over the country, and we all bond very tightly with each other. Every operation, you’re going to know at least one person very well.”
Like Kerrigan, the volunteers working in Lake County are dedicated to just wanting to help. One of them, who declined to be named, said he was looking for something to do after spending 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.
“I felt like there was something missing after I got out,” he said. “The camaraderie with this can’t be beat.”
The reason Mike Geissler, a nine-year Team Rubicon volunteer from Indianapolis, has for being part of the team goes even deeper: He and his family survived a house fire 10 years ago.
“Ten departments were involved in putting that fire out,” Geissler said. “I know the feeling of going through it, so whatever I can do to help, I’m going to do it.”
“There’s nothing better than helping people,” volunteer Tony Franssens, of Chicago added.
Team Rubicon is still accepting requests for its services, but said they can’t guarantee that they’ll get through their 80-and-growing household waiting list even if they’re granted a second extension.
Those who want to get on the Team Rubicon waitlist should call 469-953-4507 for Gary and 310-466-0548 for the rest of Lake County; those interested in learning more about the organization, donating to it or signing up to volunteer should log onto teamrubiconusa.org.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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