Bermudians are lending a helping hand to the people of Galveston as they rebuild their lives after the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Ike. The Royal Gazette found out about the Island's Salvation Army volunteers who have provided aid in the flattened Texan city.

Rudolph Hollis had many touching and poignant moments during his two-week stint in Galveston dishing out desperately-needed meals to people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

But the one that stands out most in his mind involved a distraught woman who did not need food. "This lady came and said she wasn't looking for a meal," said the 54-year-old planning consultant.

"I said: 'Can I help you?'. She said she'd just got back to Galveston and she started bawling, crying. It tears you up when you see that. I said this lady needs comfort and I went outside just to hug her. That's all she really wanted."

Mr. Hollis, emergency disaster services coordinator for the Salvation Army in Bermuda, led a team of six to Galveston earlier this month.

The volunteers, including his wife Leanne, agreed at short notice to jump on a plane and head to Texas to spend their nights packed like sardines into large shipping containers and their days handing out meals to Galveston's displaced thousands.

Mr. Hollis was first told that participants might be needed not long after Ike struck in September, but only received definite word a few days before his team flew out.

"It was pretty short notice," smiles the father-of-two. "The six people who went were the ones who were able to say 'yes' on the Thursday. We went on the Monday.

"With the people who went it was a good combination of experienced people and non-experienced people. Two had gone to Biloxi to help after Katrina and my experience was in New York. I went to Ground Zero. The others hadn't had any experience at all."

The team, including Lynn Gordon, Arnold Daniels, Mark Phillips and Major Betty-Ann Lewis, were given a briefing on arrival and shown where they'd be sleeping.

"There were big shipping containers that held 12 people," Mr. Hollis explains. "Four in one cubicle separated by a toilet and shower, then another four and so on. All six of us were in the shipping containers with men and women separated.

"This accommodation was the first class suites compared to the tents there which had about 900 people with everyone in cots."

The next morning all six were assigned to work on the canteens serving food to people whose homes were wrecked or left without power after Ike.

Mr. Hollis went on a roaming canteen and saw shattered buildings, debris-strewn streets and hungry families grateful to see the mobile canteen.

"We got flagged down. Someone will come out of their house and chase you and say, 'Can we get a couple of meals?' A lot of people wanted us to give them cases of water and ice."

During the next fortnight, the Islanders worked long days, dishing out food to anyone who needed it, be it workers helping to rebuild the city or people living in tents after losing their homes.

"Some people drove up and you wouldn't have thought they would have come to the Salvation Army for a meal," said Mr. Hollis. "They drove up in fancy cars, SUVs, but they were no better off than the next person because they didn't have any electricity or gas."

The majority of people were incredibly grateful for the help, according to Mr. Hollis, who said he only got "cussed out" a couple of times when people got frustrated about what they were given.

"We just walked away from it," said Mr. Hollis of one incident, when a man swore at the canteen crew. "For every one negative experience, we probably had 500 cases of people who were very appreciative of the effort we were giving."

And a sterling effort it was, with volunteers rising early and working long days at canteens in the city's worst-hit neighbourhoods.

By the time they returned to the shipping container in the evening, the Bermudians were usually ready to drop straight to sleep.

Food was difficult to get in the mornings because as the clean-up operation wound down, the tents providing meals to volunteers were packed away. In the evening, it was tough to stomach the same meals they'd been handling all day.

But the Islanders were resourceful. "Bermudians by their nature adapt," said Mr. Hollis, the Island's former Director of Planning. "On one occasion the ladies said: 'We'll have a barbecue'. That was good to lift the morale of some of the Bermudians and some of the friends we made."

For mother-of-two Lynn Gordon, the Salvation Army's family services/thrift manager, the trip was the experience of a lifetime. She was unable to go to Biloxi in 2005 but really wanted to help this time.

"It was amazing," said the 46-year-old. "It really changes your perspective. I met one lady, it was the second day, and I could see she was very agitated.

"I went over and said: 'Are you okay?'. She said: 'My sister and I have seven kids between us. I lost my house and my mother'. She said: 'My mother is not even buried yet'. I just pray that it all worked out for her."

Ms Gordon added: "The people of Galveston were so grateful and thankful. I made some nice connections. In life if you stay with your own all the time, life would be so dull.

"When you can mingle with people from all walks of life and you are there for a common goal it's a wonderful thing."

The initial team of six left Galveston on October 18 — but a second team are now there keeping the Bermuda flags flying on their canteens. The volunteers now in the city are Lionel and Lynn Cann, Carol McDarrell, Vance Hollis and Kevin Simmons.

Mr. Hollis said it was not unusual for Bermudians to give help when asked. "Bermudians usually respond quite well," he said. "Quite a few Bermudians went to New York and were placed in various locations. When called upon, we have provided a response.

"It's quite rewarding and it's quite an honour for Bermudians. Considering our size, we have provided quite a lot of people."

Though this experience was less traumatic than after 9/11, when he was helping in a makeshift morgue, Mr. Hollis says he'll never forget the people of Galveston, especially the lady to whom he gave a much-needed hug.

The bewildered woman was not just contending with the aftermath of the tempest — she had just discovered her husband had cancer.

"I explained that God was with her and that people are here to help," said Mr. Hollis. "I said we have come all the way from Bermuda to help you so you have a lot of support. Just those words were enough to comfort her."