Local Red Cross volunteers standing by to help storm victims

STUART, Fla. - According to Steve Lewis, the Red Cross Regional Communications Manager, volunteers in our area are on standby, waiting to help with the disaster recovery in the South and Midwest.

"Here locally we have volunteers that are trained and ready to deploy, once the request comes in.  They are trained in services such as providing food, shelter and emotional support top disaster victims," said Lewis.

For the volunteers, it's all on the job training, responding to smaller scale crises in their own backyards.  "Just in the last 4 hours, we had one fire with some displaced people in Port St. Lucie.  As we speak right now, we are responding to another fire in Fort Pierce," said Lewis.

Lewis added, "Red Cross is a humanitarian network.  If you recall the storms of 2004 with Francis, and Jean, and Hurricane Wilma, Those volunteers that were trained up there, came down here to help our local people.  Our volunteers here are ready to go help the disaster victims this week."
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With a disaster of this magnitude, financial support is crucial.  So, for those with a desire to help, but lacking the required training, the Red Cross appreciates any and all donations.  

"They can go to redcross.org and make a donation, they can call 800- redcross, and they can also text the word REDCROSS, All one word to 90999 to make a ten dollar donation," said Lewis.  

A donation the Red Cross will put to good use, wherever there is need.