By Kate Walters, American Red Cross
On a recent fall day, when many Ruskin, Fl. residents were still fleeing the flood-ravaged area, American Red Cross volunteer Hollin Dames entered a battered mobile home park to assess the damage that Hurricanes Helene and Milton delivered. The home inspection was the first step in providing storm victims Red Cross disaster relief.
“Everybody here shows their appreciation,” says Dames, a Tampa, Fl. resident. “It makes me feel good because sometimes I put a smile on peoples’ faces and give them some hope.”
Dames is part of the Red Cross Disaster Damage Assessment Observe (DDAO) program, a new initiative that speeds up the organization’s traditional damage assessment process. In the past, damage assessment volunteers underwent a screening and training process that could take weeks to complete. Also, in order to deploy to disaster areas, trained volunteers from around the country had to commit at least two weeks to the endeavor.
However, Helene and Milton’s one-two punch a month ago caused an unprecedented need for volunteers to assess and photograph damaged homes and upload the data to a special app where Red Cross teams determine what assistance the organization can provide.
That extraordinary need gave birth to DDAO, where the Red Cross recruits local volunteers, trains and deploys them in a day. Program participants can work for as many hours, days or weeks as they can spare.
Local volunteers “know where the potential for problems is," says program supervisor Pat Stinnett. “Also, they’re invested in the community, so they want to do a good job.”
Damage assessment volunteer Jessica Schaedler says the new Red Cross program makes helping her neighbors “easy.”
The team has made it simple for anyone to show up with a phone and canvass the neighborhood looking for signs of damage,” Schaedler says. “You get to meet a lot of great people.”
The hurricanes and resulting storm surges sent feet of water into homes, causing dangerous mold to grow and destroying appliances, furnishings, drywall and insulation.
That’s what DDAO volunteers found in Tammy Gaby’s mobile home where she and her mother sat in recliners surrounded by water for five hours until they were rescued.
“The furniture is all gone,” Gaby says. “We’re just going to start all over again."
Neighbor Janet Hoskins says past hurricanes spared her home: Milton and Helene were not as benevolent. “Helene flooded me out. Milton took my roof,” Hoskins says. “It’s very difficult to say goodbye to everything, to lose your memories.”
DDAO volunteer Alain Pyree says his Tampa home was spared serious damage, so seeing the destruction in Ruskin hurts his heart. “I don’t know these people,” he says, “but I want to extend the support, the help, because I am blessed.”
If you would like to help the Red Cross’s disaster response, visit redcross.org, or call 1-800-REDCROSS.
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