As the Thanksgiving holiday week begins more local Red Cross volunteers are answering the call for help to support the American Red Cross response to the East Coast.
Sixty-five volunteers from the Southern Missouri region are on deployment in New York and New Jersey.
Thanks to the generosity of the American people and the commitment of our volunteers, the Red Cross has been able to spend tens of millions of donated dollars providing food, shelter, relief supplies and comfort to people affected by Hurricane Sandy.
The Red Cross has been helping people since before Sandy made landfall and will continue to help for weeks and months to come as families get back on their feet. This is likely to be the largest Red Cross response in the U.S. in the past five years, and it has mobilized the full resources of the organization across the country to help people. Right now nearly 5,500 Red Cross workers from all 50 states are supporting shelters, providing food, water and supplies. About 90 percent of these are volunteers.
As the response continues on the East Coast, the needs at home are still being met. In the last 19 days, volunteers in the Southern Missouri region have responded to more than 30 house fires providing emergency relief to almost 90 people with monetary assistance totaling more than $13,000.
Persons can help people affected by disasters like floods, fires and hurricanes, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. The gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit www.redcross.org or call 800-Red-Cross. Contributions may also be sent to the local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.