Area Red Cross braces for Dolly
Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008
Hurricane Dolly has made landfall in southern Texas and area Red Cross centers have volunteers waiting in San Antonio to aid with possible emergency situations.
Robin Dorf, community relations specialist for the Northwest Arkansas Red Cross in Tontitown, said the center sent an emergency response vehicle loaded with supplies and volunteers on Tuesday to Fort Smith to meet up with that center's emergency response vehicle. Together the groups went to San Antonio as part of the large-scale preparation plan to assist recovery efforts should they be needed.
Dorf said the teams are used to provide meals and snacks to victims and workers during recovery situations. The crews are waiting in San Antonio for safety reasons.
"We will not deploy until the storm has cleared," Dorf said. "We don't want to put any of our staff in danger."
Carmen Newberry, emergency services director for the Northwest Arkansas Red Cross, said that Hurricane Dolly helps mark the beginning of hurricane season. She reminded people that when hurricanes hit and disasters occur, it's not responsible for ordinary people to head straight to the affected areas to provide relief.
"Call me and I'll get them into some training classes," Newberry said.
The Red Cross normally starts with shelter and feeding classes for people interested in helping.
"That's often the services disaster affected areas need right away," she said.
Newberry added that for people unable to travel far to lend an hand there is plenty that needs to be done in Arkansas.
"We've had at least one, maybe two emergency response disasters here in Arkansas each month," she said. "Even when our volunteers travel to help other areas we still have to have volunteers at home to help with those disasters."
For more information, contact the Northwest Arkansas Red Cross at 306-4688
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