A number of Valley residents are ready to head south when, and if, Gustav makes landfall.

Debbie Mintiens filled out the last of her paperwork Friday to secure her spot on an emergency response vehicle.

Mintiens exclaims, "I'm ready right now. I could walk out of here and go."

Mintiens spent two weeks at the Red Cross headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama headquarters after Katrina hit. She says the organization appears to be much more prepared this time around.

"I can tell things are a little bit different because we're being called earlier. We've got these shelters set up and we're already manning the shelters so that was sooner than with Katrina", comments Mintiens.

A native New Orleanian, Jill Siegel now works full time for the Red Cross. She says a number of Valley residents have expressed interest in going to help after Gustav hits.

Siegal says, "We have a total of 15 volunteers that are already deployed or on standby to go and that number could increase in the coming days depending on what Gustav does."

Siegel says the timing of this storm is what makes it particularly hard to deal with. She is worried about the thousands of people still recovering from Katrina.

"I just keep thinking about those faces and the people that stayed and have rebuilt, and how they must be feeling right now and I can't imagine how it must feel thinking we've begun to re-build our lives, we've re-built our homes and now we're going to start all over again," says Siegel.

The Red Cross has already sent down meal assistance vehicles, 100,000 cots and blankets.