Rising to the Challenge

When a call went out for emergency psychiatrists to run the mental health unit at the Houston Astrodome, Dr. Scott Zeller responded. He quickly took leave from his job in Alameda, Calif. Zeller and two assistants treated as many as 100 patients a day, including "men who saw a lot of death and women who were sexually assaulted." A member of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists/Local 206 (an AFSCME affiliate), Zeller sums up his experience as "very rewarding. It makes you feel like you're doing the right thing in life."

As soon as Katrina survivors started arriving in Alexandria, La., resident Ronald Williams (Local 1848) started putting in 16-hour days three times a week. A foreman in the city's waste and water department, Williams went to a food-distribution center after work and put in another eight hours hauling bags and boxes of relief goods. His inspiration: his 29-year-old daughter, Rontashala. A New Orleans high school teacher, she helped evacuate students who had no transportation. "I'm proud of what she did," he says. "Like her, I wanted to do my part."

Claudia Gaines, 73, has missed being active in her union (Local 3074) since she retired as a mental health worker. Katrina gave her an opportunity to "get back into action." In addition to helping locate AFSCME members in shelters around Pineville, La., she spent several days at her church unpacking boxes, sorting clothes, and dispensing food and water. Gaines believes that "if I've done something for the least of my brethren, I've lived up to my faith."