Bismarck Tribune

By KAREN HERZOGBy KAREN HERZOG

On his first disaster, Al Materi spent 55 days in the Red River Valley.

On his ninth disaster, just this month, he spent two weeks in Baton Rouge, La.

Both were floods, and in between there have been wildfires, tornadoes, more hurricanes and New York City in November 2001.

When Materi retired, he discovered a person can only fish so much, he said. That's when he heard a Salvation Army radio spot asking for volunteers.

"Ihad a strong feeling for giving back: I've had such a good life," he said.

Materi is a volunteer food-canteen driver for the Salvation Army in Bismarck, and just returned from the Gulf Coast, where he did what he has done eight times before:Give out ice water, sandwiches, meals, treats and the occasional diaper to a desperate mom.

Shots - tetanus and hepatitis B - and a psychiatric checkup came before the journey. Then it was on the road to Dallas, where the canteen was loaded with supplies.

This time, Baton Rouge was as close as the Salvation Army canteen could get to New Orleans. Materi and two volunteers parked the canteen next to a FEMA distribution center and handed food, water and treats through the car windows, serving about 800 to 1,400 meals a day. Getting back at 8 or 9 p.m., there would be enough time to clean out the canteen, gas it up and get some sleep for the next day.

Adrenaline takes a person through the day, but at night, sleeping on a church floor or in the canteen, it catches up with you, he said.

Sleeping on the floor of a church, Materi and other volunteers got up about 5:30 a.m., drove two hours or more and set up shop. They offered food and maybe a little counseling. "Not talking about the disaster, but about everything else," he said.

When people found out he was from North Dakota, they got wide eyes and asked questions: Are there really still cowboys and Indians, and buffalo?

Primarily it was the little kids who got to him; the ones who lost their homes, clothes, toys and beds, "which is their sanctuary," Materi said.

"The gratitude is unbelievable, for ice water or a meal or diapers. It makes you feel so good. That's why you don't get tired."