Volunteers Reaching Out with Food, Supplies and Tornado Recovery Resources
ATLANTA, GA, Saturday, March 9, 2019 -- Red Cross relief efforts continue for Georgia families this weekend after last Sunday’s severe storms – including 15 reported tornadoes – brought damage to homes and businesses in a dozen counties statewide.
How We’re Helping This Weekend
As of today, Red Cross has documented 129 homes destroyed or with major damage statewide and more than 292 homes with some storm damage. Particularly hard-it are Grady, Harris and Talbot counties. Red Cross outreach to people impacted in these counties today will include:
· Mobile hot meals for lunch and dinner along identified routes
· Delivery of emergency supplies such as rakes, work gloves, trash bags, tarps, snacks and water to help residents with clean-up efforts
· Outreach to provide health and emotional support such as the replacement of medications and help with coping in the aftermath of personal loss
· One-on-one casework with individuals and families to assess their emergency needs, provide assistance, help with recovery planning, and connect them with additional resources available through community and government partners.
How We’ve Helped So Far
The Red Cross worked with emergency partners prior to the storms to monitor conditions and prepare to respond across Georgia. As damage reports began coming in, the Red Cross opened a shelter in Talbotton (Talbot County) on Sunday night and a second shelter in Cairo (Grady County) on Monday. The shelters (no longer needed) provided 41 overnight stays for residents in need.
Volunteers began assessing the damage at first light Monday to pinpoint areas of need. As of yesterday, with the help of emergency partners including state and local governments, churches and organizations like the Salvation Army, the Red Cross has:
· Mobilized more than 100 disaster workers – all are Georgia volunteers from across the state
· Served 3,000 hot meals and provided 3,600 snacks and water at shelters and through mobile outreach in affected areas
· Provided 163 households with more than 1,100 emergency supplies and personal items to help them through the clean-up process
· Made more than 400 health and mental health contacts to help residents cope
· Provided other assistance, based on need for dozens of people in the state.
“We are tremendously grateful for the outpouring of collaboration and support for Red Cross tornado relief efforts in Georgia this week,” said Jessica Miller, operations director. “Georgians working together are making a big difference for our neighbors in need as they begin the long recovery process.”
Fire Responses and Emergency Preparedness Continue
Meanwhile, Red Cross fire disaster responses continue across the state. As of Sunday, disaster action teams in local communities have responded to 55 home fires, ensuring emergency essentials such as food, safe shelter and emotional support for 79 families – 248 people. This includes 12 families displaced last night following the Sandpiper Apartments fire in Warner Robins.
Home fires are the most common disaster nationwide. The Red Cross reminds all Georgians that this is #TurnandTest weekend. As families spring forward and turn their clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, we urge them to test their home smoke alarms, replace the batteries, install smoke alarms if they don’t have them and practice their 2-minute home fire escape plans. Working smoke alarms can cut the risk of home fire deaths in half.
The National Weather Service is forecasting more wind, rain and thunder storms over the weekend, diminishing Monday. It’s a good idea to download the free Red Cross Emergency App to have real-time information about storms and what to do before, during and after they happen, at your fingertips. The Emergency App is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to www.redcross.org/apps.
HOW YOU CAN HELP You can help people affected by disasters like storms and countless other crises by making a gift to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Call, click, or text to give: visit www.redcross.org , call 1-800 RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.
PHOTOS (credit, Sherry Nicholson):
· Red Cross Emergency Response vehicles continue mobile delivery of meals and supplies in Grady, Harris and Talbot Counties this weekend.
· Red Cross disaster volunteer Leslie Stewart (Savannah), helps Marian Ford with a storage bin as she salvages items from her heavily damaged family home on Evans St. in Talbotton on Friday.
· Metro Atlanta volunteer Michele Donovan serves a hot meal to Felicia Trice and her neighbors on hard-hit North Washington St. in Talbotton on Friday.