Justin Harper entered a room littered with phone lines, laptops and dozens of conversations circling his desk. He quickly adjusted his headset and prepared for the calls inundating the United Way Capital Area Helpline as a result of Hurricane Ike, the largest evacuation in Texas state history. Soon he was speaking with a family stranded on the roof of their home by floodwaters from Hurricane Ike. Not exactly your typical volunteer experience.

"The area was under a mandatory evacuation so I knew they couldn't call 9-1-1, because anyone who stayed behind was on their own. The callers were in panic mode and all I could think to do was just keep calm, help them problem solve and see what options I had available to help them."

Justin quickly learned that only the son could swim, leaving the mother and daughters in an even more dangerous situation. Justin had the family retrieve any bottled or fresh water they had, food that was dry and blankets to shelter them from the sun. "The call went on and on and on, but the mother was finally able to calm down and realized that no one is going to come help me, so I have to find a way to survive."

Justin had recently moved to Austin to attend St. Edwards University when he heard the UWCA Helpline needed volunteers in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Without knowing anything about the helpline, he registered online and joined the Disaster Response Team with the greatest need — the evening shift that ran through midnight. He never expected to receive such an extreme call so early in his volunteer experience.

"I thought, 'Wow, that was the second call in.' There were so many calls similar to that and several volunteers throughout the first week simply said they were going to load supply trucks because it was just too hard. I thought it was really rewarding to be in a situation where I could directly help somebody. Sometimes it was something small such as providing information on the location of the ice trucks or where they could find fresh water. But these were basic necessities needed for survival."

In the event of a disaster, the Helpline has the capacity to nearly double its staff utilizing more than 20 volunteers to man the phone lines. Each volunteer receives multiple trainings, as well as support from senior staff. Justin returned for a second week of volunteering and shortly after Hurricane Ike, joined the UWCA Helpline as a full-time employee. Today, he is a Senior Information and Referral Specialist and responds to nearly 100 calls each day from people in the greater Austin community.

"I really enjoy being able to help people and provide them with the resources that they typically aren't able to find on their own." The Helpline took more than 326,000 in 2010, a 22 percent increase from 2009.

An integral part of being a Helpline Specialist is supporting and helping one another. The team meets regularly to share ideas for how the call center can continue to improve their services.

"Because of the current economic crisis, the especially challenging calls are more frequent now. The need has increased but the funding for local service agencies has not and people are even more desperate."

Justin has a long history as a United Way supporter beginning as a volunteer when he was only eight years old. "My family has supported United Way as long as I can remember whether it was my dad serving on a board, his company providing financial support or my sister and I going with him to volunteer projects."

He continues his volunteer spirit by regularly scheduling opportunities for the call specialists to do volunteer work at many of the agencies they refer callers to such as Caritas of Austin and Trinity Center. "I think it's great for the staff to get an idea of where we're sending callers and to see the people we're helping every day."

Knowing that he can directly help someone in the community on a daily basis drives Justin to continually improve the service the Helpline provides. "It can be tough, but all you can do is to try to help them see what is available to them. You can't change their situation, but you can show them what they can do to get through it. That's what makes my work so rewarding."