John said they figured they needed to come up with $400 to make the trip, and that day heard from their bank that they had an overage of that much in the account. He said he thought that was a sign from God they should go to San Diego.

Anne said they had another miracle on the drive down when a radiator hose broke. They were within a hundred yards of a service garage, where John was able to get a new hose and borrow the tools to install it. They are prepared to sleep in their van unless the Red Cross arranges a hotel room for them.

They called their Red Cross assignment their "mission" and said they would fulfill it the best they could, even if that meant staying long term in San Diego. After all, they pointed out, they haven't put down deep roots anywhere.

Another Utah volunteer, Jo-Lynn Hatch of Taylorsville, works in front of a laptop computer on a table in the headquarters building. Surrounded by other volunteers performing similar duties, she processes volunteers arriving from everywhere from West Virginia to Alaska so they and their assignments can be organized and tracked.

A two-year Red Cross volunteer, Hatch's service in Utah is through the Reach program, providing services for the elderly and people with disabilities who are undergoing hardships and in danger of having utilities cut off.

Her life's situation was such that she was able to accept the request to go to San Diego with only 24 hours' notice. She arrived Tuesday afternoon.

Her service for those in need in Salt Lake is rewarding, she said. But in San Diego, she has found the rewards come when considering what those she is helping have been through, imagining herself in their place.

Her first two nights in San Diego, she said, she slept on a cot among "a million snoring people" in the Serra High School evacuation center. Though she acknowledged that may be an exaggeration, she said she did have to sleep with her arms at her side to keep them from flopping onto the cots on either side of her.

"I didn't complain, though, because unlike many of those we are helping, I do have a home to go home to," she said. She anticipates going home next Wednesday.

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E-mail: ghill@desnews.com