A group of 20 Quad City Red Cross volunteers will be heading to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where they'll be helping people who have lost everything.

These Quad Citians gave up their vacation time to help hurricane survivors. On Thursday they had one last training session at the Red Cross Headquarters in Moline where they were told where to go and which shelters to try and stay in once they get to Baton Rouge.

The volunteers answered the Red Cross' call for more volunteers. This will be their first disaster response. People who have already helped in the gulf say all the training in the world won't help volunteers get over the emotion of hearing survivors stories. But they have some words of advice for the first-timers.

"It's very emotional," says veteran volunteer Leslie Anthony. "You're going to see a lot of things you've never seen before. We tell them to be prepared for the emotional part because it can be emotionally taxing."

Now with Hurricane Rita looming just off the Texas coastline the Red Cross needs more volunteers. If you have some extra time off then the organization could really use some extra help.