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Chapter Trains Volunteers to Respond to Hurricane Katrina
Written By Prem Bhandari, Special to RedCross.org
Thursday, September 22, 2005 — In the last month since Hurricane Katrina reach landfall, Virginia’s Arlington County Chapter of the American Red Cross has trained 240 new volunteers for rapid deployment to the Gulf region. Disaster volunteers receive four hours of rigorous training in sheltering, feeding and counseling that will be supplemented by hands-on instruction when they reach disaster areas on the Gulf Coast.
Red Cross volunteers prepare to deliver water and heater meals to shelters in Gulfport, Mississippi.
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Lynn Keefe, Director of Information Services and Technology for the Arlington County Chapter, is very much encouraged by the overwhelming positive response she and her associates have received from volunteers who have offered their help. She also is proud to have trained 50 caseworkers who are helping evacuee families arriving in the Greater Washington area.
According to Lynn, more than 100 evacuee families have arrived in the Washington D.C. area. To meet the requirements posed by the new arrivals, a shelter has been constructed in Northern Virginia’s Loudon County to house some of the families. Lynn and her associates are eager to train, motivate and mentor new Red Cross volunteers who are helping the evacuees from the hurricane disaster area.
To join nearly one million American Red Cross volunteers, visit www.redcross.org and then contact your local Red Cross chapter. Red Cross offices are receiving a large number of volunteer inquiries, so please be patient as local offices work to respond to each new applicant.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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