On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, thirty-five American Red Cross volunteers from New Jersey and other states in the Northeast like Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania participated in a hands-on feeding training and disaster simulation. The training session was led by volunteer Victoria Gargano, Disaster Cycle Services Mass Care Feeding Lead for the Red Cross New Jersey Region.

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Feeding those affected by disasters, both immediately and during recovery, is a core mission of the Red Cross. On a large disaster relief operation, the Red Cross could serve thousands of meals and snacks each day. On a smaller operation, volunteers could serve dozens or hundreds per day. These meals are comfort in times of great need.

Geraldine Service, a Red Cross volunteer with the Connecticut and Rhode Island Region, believes this training will give her even more purpose in her community.

“I started as a Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteer responding to home fires and then also got involved with installing smoke alarms with the Home Fire Campaign too,” said Geraldine. “I am always looking for more ways to help and I’m so glad I took this training. It’s amazing how much you can help someone with a smile and blanket – and now, I can add a meal to that.”

Geraldine and other trainees spent the first part of the day in the classroom, learning about important food safety standards and rules while hearing about best practices from those with experience on large-scale feeding missions. The second part of the training was spent in the “field” during a disaster simulation.

Six teams were deployed in Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) to pick up food from a local partner. From there, the teams put their lessons from the classroom to use, navigating challenges to complete their mission of serving a hot meal to hundreds of first responders, who were participating in their own training that day.

New Jersey Disaster Volunteer Francina Bolden has served meals while deployed as a shelter associate in Florida, Kentucky and various shelters in North Jersey over the last couple years. Fran spent the afternoon in an ERV with two volunteers from Pennsylvania, learning how to store the food, plate it in containers, serve from the vehicle’s walk-up window and clean up afterwards.

“This training will give me another opportunity to go out into the community to see and help people in need,” Francina said. “It’s a good feeling to be able to do this.”

After a disaster, like a flood, hurricane or fire, homes are often left in shambles and people may not have access to their kitchens. That’s when Red Cross ERVs roll out into hard hit communities with food. Each ERV is stocked with large food containers filled with hot meals, along with drinks, food containers and utensils. Each vehicle carries enough food to put together between 100 and 500 meals, depending on the route. Now, thanks to their training, Red Crossers like Geraldine and Fran will drive into communities to deliver comfort, food and smiles.

Join our team. Learn more at redcross.org/Volunteer.