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BY HANNAH NEWMAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Zeta Tau Alpha members learn the nobility of serving early in their experience. For many, it becomes a lifelong passion. As first responders in floods, tornadoes, ice storms and fires, Susan Feiock Breece, Tracy Jones Christie and Mie Lucas continue to help others in the most vulnerable days of their lives.

Susan was initiated at Beta Delta Chapter (Miami University of Ohio) in 1960. After a career as a journalist, she became a volunteer first responder following the 9/11 tragedy in 2001. “What inspired me to do this was the desire to offer effective assistance to people when a disaster or something completely unexpected happens to them,” Susan says.

She responded to an ad for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), which is a FEMA-run program that trains private citizens

“What inspired me to do this was the desire to offer effective assistance to people when a disaster or something completely unexpected happens to them.” to assist others when first responders are unable to get there. She describes this service as “pre-first responders.”

Susan has been a CERT volunteer operations team leader in the Boca Raton and Palm Beach County areas of Florida for 21 years. Since the program began in her area, CERT volunteers have responded to many floods. The team goes out in high-rise vehicles to deliver food to families who are unable to leave their homes.

“As a Christian, I’m called to help other people and be the hands and feet of Jesus. I believe this is something I’m being called to do.”

“My role is to be on call 24 hours a day to activate the Emergency Operations Center to coordinate disaster response.”

“We’re prepared to do search and rescue. We’re prepared to practice disaster psychology if it should be necessary, and we’re prepared to put out very small fires. There’s a structure to volunteering; we’re organized into teams and follow the Incident Command System,” Susan says.

Tracy Jones Christie, a 1974 initiate of Kappa Chapter (The University of Texas at Austin), is a volunteer on the Red Cross Disaster Action Team in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas. The team assists families who experience house fires and natural disasters.

This journey began for Tracy in spring 2011. She and other volunteers from her church in St. Joseph, Missouri, traveled to Joplin, Missouri, to serve that community after a devastating EF-5 tornado. Later that spring, she volunteered in flood relief in the St. Joseph area.

“As a Christian, I’m called to help other people and be the hands and feet of Jesus. I believe this is something I’m being called to do,” she says.

She recalls a house fire that occurred in near-zero temperatures. The family made it out with nothing but the clothes they were sleeping in. The father of two young children had to leave an oxygen tank behind. The fire department was able to provide a replacement tank and the community responded with empathy.

“The neighborhood was bringing socks and coats for them. The family was really grateful, and that stuck with me,” she says.

Mie Lucas, a 2004 initiate of Eta Mu Chapter (Augusta University) is an emergency member at a nuclear site in AugustaRichmond County, Georgia.

“My role is to be on call 24 hours a day to activate the Emergency Operations Center to coordinate disaster response,” Mie says. “In the ‘clear sky times,’ I write emergency response plans for the county that outline roles and responsibilities and teach the community about family emergency preparedness.”

A college internship with the Red Cross gave Mie her first glance at the role of a first responder. “We had two tornadoes in the area and I kind of got hooked on being able to help people,” Mie says.

An ice storm in 2014 shut down her community and left residents without power for two weeks. It was the first immense response of her career.

“I became the face of what roads were closing, what emergency services were available, where people could go to shelter,” Mie says. “I was sleeping on my office floor because it wasn’t safe for me to go home. I worked 14-plus hour days to make sure people had the immediate information they needed.”

These “pre-first responders” play vital roles rarely shown in television and movie rescue scenes.

“Very rarely do they show the fire trucks unable to get to a scene because the road is blocked by five trees and they have to get a chainsaw to cut those trees out of the way before they can get there,” says CERT volunteer Susan. “I don’t know that there is a TV version of the citizen volunteer, but there probably should be.”