Debi Horvath says she landed in the midst of disasters and emergencies by accident.

Nearly a decade ago, Horvath was dropping her children off at St. Ann School when she noticed the Collier chapter of the American Red Cross next door. She had been considering returning to work full time, and the organization was looking for an office manager. For Horvath, who spent 11 years in the banking industry in New York and New Jersey and four years as a travel agent, including as a market researcher for Gazelle International in Naples, it was an opportunity to use her skills in a new role and to be close to her two girls.

"I could look out my window and see the school yard," she says.

Within four months, the executive director left; and Horvath was promoted, overseeing the small two-person staff and a handful of disaster volunteers.

Horvath took several crucial steps to build the staff and budget: She got involved on committees with other organizations, including the chamber, increased mail campaigns and expan-ded fund-raising events. She used her knowledge from putting together fund-raisers for her children's school and Junior Achievement. She also worked with groups such as United Way and the Emergency Management Agency.

Now the organization has four full-time and two part-time staff and 500 volunteers (mostly retirees), a new building and a $600,000 annual budget.

"I formed alliances so people in town know that the Red Cross could be trusted, that the Red Cross was a good steward of their donated dollars," says Horvath, who in December earned her master's in public administration from International College, where she also earned her associate's and bachelor's degrees.

Her attitude also helped. Horvath, who is 52, describes herself as a happy, easy-going person who also has empathy for disaster victims. "I could feel for these people, I could put myself in their situation, although that's never occurred," she says.

Horvath and her volunteers serve as an immediate help to families, from those affected by a major hurricane or natural disaster to those injured in a house fire. Her work ranges from comforting a family at a hospital to finding prescriptions, glasses, dentures and clothes to arranging a place for them to stay.

"It's just immediate help-usually it's people that have little to lose, but they lose everything they own and they're lucky to be alive," she says.

As Collier has grown, so has the Red Cross' work. The organization responded to about eight or nine fires a year when she started with the organization. Now that the county has nearly doubled in size, there are about 40 fires a year, almost one a week.

In 2004, Horvath dealt with the impact of four hurricanes in one month, not only in Collier but other affected areas. The Collier chapter trained more than 200 volunteers in the first week after Charley and sent them to Lee and Charlotte counties to serve. As the weeks wore on, others were deployed to the Panhandle, Alabama and to the east coast following Hurricane Jeanne.

"It was a big challenge. We did what we needed to get done here in first two days, then went to Lee and Charlotte," Horvath says. "We did whatever we could to help out."

Whether dealing with crisis or in being a mom to her daughters, Horvath lives by several mottos: Live, laugh, love. Enjoy life. Be good to people. Be honest and ethical.

"I tell my two girls all the time that everything happens for a reason. I am a true believer in that, and my girls have had the opportunity to understand and know what I mean by that," she says.

While she teaches her girls about life's challenges, Horvath leans on her family to get her through responding to disasters. "My family has urged me on when I thought I couldn't go another step, especially my daughters," she says. "I always want my girls to be proud of their mother. That's what keeps me going."