American Red Cross volunteers Nancy Shayer and Amanda Ruff help residents of Franklin County, Kentucky at the Multi Agency Resource Center at Multiply Church. The Red Cross, Franklin County Health Department and other local agencies have been staffing the resource center to support people after flooding impacted the county in early April.
These sites, and others similar to it across the state, offer in-person support to survivors in disaster impacted counties as the result of severe storms and flooding earlier this month. Red Cross representatives can explain available assistance programs, how to apply to the Red Cross for financial assistance and help connect survivors with resources for their recovery needs. The Red Cross is also providing residents with clean up supplies, snacks, water and self-heating meals.
Nancy, from Missouri, and Amanda, from Ohio, are committed to the Red Cross mission of preventing and alleviating human suffering in the face of disasters. Both volunteers originally came to help residents in Kentucky in different ways. Originally a part of the Red Cross logistics team who inspected potential Red Cross worksites, Nancy raised her hand to switch gears and help when the call went out to help residents in centers.
Nancy has trained for several roles with the Red Cross in addition to volunteering to transport blood to area hospitals, including learning how to drive an emergency response vehicle (ERV).
“I happened to get a call one day when I was driving home from Denver," said Nancy. “They said there's a training two hours away in Independence, Missouri. I said ‘OK, that's like less than 100 miles from here,’ and I turned around and went back because it's near Kansas City.”
After a career in the corporate world, Nancy joined the Red Cross because she wanted to fulfill her dream of using her talents to give back.
“I sort of had this idea that I was going to contribute to something other than myself,” said Nancy. “Well, here I am now. I looked at all the different kinds of volunteering and I said I should try the Red Cross and so I did.”
Amanda joined the Red Cross last fall: “There was an apartment fire down my block and we got involved in helping folks with that, and the Red Cross showed up. I was so impressed by what I saw I said, ‘how do you do this?’”
After getting involved with her local chapter, she went to help in Tampa, FL as an emergency response vehicle driver after the hurricanes last fall.
“It's a match made in heaven,” said Amanda. “Like everything I've ever wanted to do with the heart I have for service, and everything the Red Cross has to offer.”
Amanda originally came to the Kentucky region to help residents in Eastern Kentucky in late March after severe weather caused major flooding in February. When severe weather and flooding threatened the rest of the state in early April, she extended her stay through May to help make sure people had the support and continuity.
“My grandparents are from Whitley County, Corbin, Williamsburg,” said Amanda, who is a recent transplant to Columbus, OH. “I feel like these are my cousins. You know, my great grandmother had 13 children. So, I've got a couple thousand cousins in Kentucky, and I just felt like these are my people.”
She shared she typically drives emergency response vehicles during deployments, but being an ambassador at the resource center has been fulfilling: “This is the first time for many folks that they have a conversation about what happens next,” said Amanda. “I say, ‘Hey, you've made it this far. You've made it to recovery, and then I congratulate them on their resiliency.”
The community in Frankfort has been helping each other in the wake of the floods, including spreading the word about the resource center to their neighbors. “This is a really good example of what neighboring looks like and what community resiliency looks like and what being tough as oak trees really looks like,” said Amanda.
You can learn more about becoming a Red Cross volunteer by visiting redcross.org/volunteer.
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