CaLLogix Counts on TAC Worlwide Solutions for HMO Call Center.

With large numbers of people who fled the fury of the hurricane and its devastation now in Georgia, the Atlanta chapter of the American Red Cross has been overwhelmed with calls for assistance. Since Wednesday, CaLLogix, a call center in this New England city far from the hurricane's destruction, has been answering the desperate calls of more than 2,000 people a day.

Since the company was first contacted by the Atlanta Red Cross on Tuesday, CaLLogix has hired 20 people to answer calls around the clock from hurricane victims seeking to locate loved ones, food, clothing, housing, medications and FEMA-issued financial assistance. The company is looking to hire another 20 to 30 people to handle an expected 3,000-4,000 calls daily over the next few weeks.

Jerry Confer, president and CEO of CaLLogix has even hired those affected most directly by the tragedy. "Just this morning a woman applied to work in the call center who lives in New Orleans and is now displaced, relocated to New Hampshire; all I could do is tell her how happy I was she was here and that of course we had a job for her."

"People in hurricane-ravaged areas are in desperate situations. Answering the calls of these people and directing them to where they can find help is one way people in this area can help those affected by the hurricane," says Confer.

The company's core business is inbound customer care for clients around the country. Confer says the work is entirely different when they are dealing with life-affecting situations like this one.

To meet the sudden increased demand for the company's services, he contacted area social service agencies and local high schools and colleges to find people interested in working at the call center. Some were hired on the spot and began training immediately.

The work is both rewarding and challenging. Part of the two-and-a-half-hour training program is devoted to making new hires sensitive to the mindset and situation of these people who may have lost everything, including family, and who are in tremendous need of help.

"One woman was desperate to find food for her children, who hadn't eaten in three days," relates Jamie, a CaLLogix employee who worked her shift and then stayed until midnight on Wednesday to help handle the influx of calls. "Sometimes food runs out at a shelter and we have to tell people they have to wait until the next day to get food. It's very difficult."

"You try to block out your emotions and then you'll get that one call that breaks your heart," adds Carrie, another CaLLogix employee who has been taking Red Cross calls. "One woman didn't know what to do. She had no car, no house, no family. Sometimes you want to go into tears for these people because their situations are so desperate."

While some are calling for help, others are calling with offers of assistance. Some people have a spare room to share and others are interested in taking in a family. All the information is logged in at the call center and shared with the closest Atlanta area Red Cross service center.

"We're really the front line," says Confer. "We give the Red Cross information about what people are encountering and they get back to us with updated information. We're e-mailing back and forth all day long."

Ironically, the devastation that has caused the loss of homes and jobs for thousands of people in the Gulf Coast area has provided job opportunities in this city many miles away. "If people want to help others who have been deeply affected by the hurricane but they don't have money to send, they can use their time to help them and, at the same time, help support themselves," says Confer. "Helping these people who are in such dire straits is time well spent."

CaLLogix Inc purchases

Abacus Communications'

Manchester N.H. contact center.