Please click, text or call to support Red Cross Disaster Relief
and help people affected by disasters like storms and countless other crises.
It’s been almost three weeks since powerful tornadoes destroyed almost 7,000 homes across Kentucky and Missouri, and the American Red Cross continues to offer comfort and support to people who have lost everything to these devastating storms.
More than 500 Red Crossers from all over the country are on the ground helping. With our partners, so far we have provided more than 4,200 overnight stays in 27 emergency shelters, more than 106,000 meals and snacks and as many as 240,000 relief items to some 6,500 households.
In shelters, trained Red Cross volunteers are helping families cope. Red Cross caseworkers have opened more than 680 cases, helping as many as 1,700 people with recovery support, including financial assistance, replacement of eyeglasses and other medical needs like prescriptions.
Where it is safe to do so, Red Cross volunteers are distributing meals and relief supplies in impacted neighborhoods and helping assess the residential damage in affected communities
See how the Red Cross is helping in Missouri and Kentucky.
CARRIED OVER A MILE BY A TORNADO When a deadly EF-4 tornado struck London, Kentucky, just before midnight on May 15, tearing Samuel Parker from his home, he says he knew what he was in for, “I said, ‘Lord, I’m ready for the ride. Let’s go.’”
By some accounts, the violent tornado carried Parker more than a mile from his home. It’s unclear where, exactly, he was found — he was told by emergency personnel that he was found in a tree, but he thinks it might have been a parking lot. The one thing no one disputes is that it’s remarkable he survived.
After spending nearly a week in the local hospital, Parker, who lost everything in the tornado, including the home he’d just finished paying off earlier in May, was discharged wearing clothes from the hospital’s lost and found and brought to the Red Cross shelter at the First Baptist Church of London. There, Red Cross volunteers provided him with clean clothes, safe shelter, warm meals, basic medical care, and more. Learn more about Samuel’s journey.
LEO LENDS A HELPING PAW When Red Cross volunteer Michael Pritchard shows up at a disaster, he brings his ability to help people at a shelter, along with Leo, his German shepherd service dog. Michael is a member of a special team that helps those staying in emergency shelters overcome roadblocks preventing them from leaving. Six-year-old Leo is always at Michael’s side, and in his way, the dog lends a helping paw to the recovery process.
Michael said a benefit of having Leo with him is that the dog picks up on the mood of a shelter resident.
It makes it easier to talk to the residents. A dog knows when a person is depressed or unhappy,” Michael said.
As Michael and Leo walked through a shelter after the St. Louis tornado, people who were staying there because their homes were no longer habitable came up and asked if they could pet Leo. The dog took it all in stride and appeared to enjoy all the attention from everybody, from little children to older adults.
“This isn’t a normal environment, and a dog is a welcome distraction from what they have been dealing with,” Michael said.
Over the years, Leo has been with Michael on fourteen different disaster response operations. See more about this dynamic duo here.
FIND A SHELTER If you need a safe place to stay, find open shelters on redcross.org, the free Red Cross Emergency app or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) and selecting the disaster option. You can also find shelters by following your local county and city officials on social media or monitoring local news.
Red Cross shelters are open to everyone in need, and all disaster assistance is free. We do not turn away people who need assistance during a disaster. We provide aid to all those in need, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or citizenship status. We don’t require people to show any kind of identification to enter a Red Cross shelter, just their name and where they were living before the disaster.
DOWNLOAD OUR APPS Download the free Red Cross First Aid app so you’ll know what to do if emergency help is delayed and the free Emergency app for weather alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety steps for different emergencies. Choose whether you want to view the content in English or Spanish with an easy-to-find language selector. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.
HOW YOU CAN HELP People need urgent assistance now. Help people affected by disasters like floods, storms and countless other crises with a Red Cross Disaster Relief donation by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small, whenever and wherever they occur across the county.
For those interested in helping people specifically affected by the recent storms, we ask that they select the “Spring Storms and Floods” option on redcross.org or through 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).
CLIMATE CRISIS The Red Cross is responding nonstop, with a major disaster occurring as often as every 15 days. As the climate crisis worsens and disasters become more frequent and intense, the Red Cross is increasing our capacity to help those in need. We urge everyone to get ready now in case a disaster threatens your community.
Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster.
Mission Leader Members: Amazon; American Airlines; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Costco Wholesale; State Farm
ADGP $1M Members: American Honda Motor Company; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Chobani; CMA CGM Foundation; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Mobility Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Merck; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; The Pfizer Foundation; Six Four Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; Takeda; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; Wells Fargo
ADGP $500k Members: ALDI; Altria Group; Aon; Baxter Foundation; Boeing; Bread Financial; Capital One; Chick-fil-A; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; DHL Supply Chain; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Philanthropy; Fox Corporation; GE Aerospace; General Motors; Google.org; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; ; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Marathon Petroleum Corporation; Mastercard; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; NTT Data; Paul Davis Restoration; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; PetSmart Charities; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stryker; Suburban Propane; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; The Wawa Foundation; Wesco; Yum! Brands; Zoetis Foundation
Disaster Responder Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe Foundation; The AES Corporation; Aflac; Albemarle Corporation; The Allstate Foundation; American Family Insurance; American Tire Distributors; American Water Charitable Foundation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Bath & Body Works; Build-A-Bear Foundation; Canadian National Railway; CarMax; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Cisco and Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; The Deluxe Foundation; DENSO North America Foundation; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Dollar Tree; Duke Energy; Erie Insurance; Fastenal; Equitable; Fifth Third Foundation; HP Foundation; International Paper; Invitation Homes; Johnson & Johnson Foundation; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; L’Oréal; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo ; LKQ; Macy’s, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Martin Marietta; Masco Corporation; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Mutual of Omaha Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Norfolk Southern; Northrop Grumman Foundation; Northwestern Mutual; Novartis; Old Dominion Freight Line; Oxy; Pacific Life Foundation; Prudential; Raymond James; RBC Foundation USA; Reckitt; Reynolds American Inc.; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Salesforce; Santander Bank and Santander Consumer USA Foundation Inc. ; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Stephens; Tata Consultancy Services; Tennant Company; U-Haul International; Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation; US Foods; Zurich
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.