'We prepared food around the clock': Red Cross volunteer remembers Hurricane Katrina

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Fred Kinsey, a longtime Red Cross and Southern Baptist volunteer, coordinated meal distribution to Hurricane Katrina victims.

Kinsey worked with both organizations to provide an estimated 16.5 million meals, overcoming logistical challenges like warehouse relocation.

MONROE, MI — Fred Kinsey remembers Hurricane Katrina like it was yesterday.

In August 2005, this historic tropical cyclone took lives and left millions of people homeless in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.

At the time, the now 84-year-old Monroe resident served as the liaison between the Southern Baptist feeding units and the American Red Cross . Between the two agencies, he coordinated food service to disaster victims.

Back then, Kinsey and his wife, Rose, were Southern Baptist feeding whi