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Red Cross Efforts Continue After Storms
Red Cross opens service centers throughout the region to offer services to those affected by last week’s deadly storms.
By Katie Lawson, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Monday, February 11, 2008 — A line of thunderstorms and tornadoes swept across the midsection of the United States last week, killing more than 50 people, injuring scores of others, and destroying dozens of homes and buildings.
Haleigh Brook, 4, smiles with her comfort kit from the Red Cross. Jackson, Tennessee.
(Photo: Talia Frenkel / American Red Cross)
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Red Cross chapters responded immediately during the night, opening shelters and providing comfort to those forced from their homes. Almost a week following the storms, the Red Cross relief effort begins to switch focus.
To date, the Red Cross has opened 14 shelters, welcomed 492 overnight guests, and served 9,263 meals. While many of the shelters have since closed their doors, information is still available on a blog (http://redcrosstn.wordpress.com) dedicated to the tornado relief effort.
While the majority of Red Cross disaster assessment has been completed, Red Cross volunteers will remain hard at work in the region to assure that everyone who needs support can receive it. Several Red Cross service centers are open throughout the affected areas of Tennessee for individuals and families who need assistance.
At the service center, each individual or family will have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with a trained interviewer to help determine needs and provide urgently needed assistance. Assistance may include providing them with the means to pay for what they need most — from groceries, new clothing, and rent to emergency home repairs, transportation, household items, medicines, and tools. Red Cross may also be able to refer victims to other agencies which can assist with their needs.
Due to the scale of destruction caused by the many storms, including loss of life, trained Red Cross mental health volunteers and grief counselors will remain available to lend emotional support to those affected and help them begin to work through the powerful emotions they may be experiencing.
Local chapters were truly at the heart of this disaster response and continue to work with support from the Red Cross' national network of resources and supplies.
If you have been affected by the storms, use the Red Cross Safe and Well website (https://disastersafe.redcross.org) to register yourself as "safe and well." From a list of standard messages, you can select those that you want to communicate to your family members, letting them know of your well-being.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like these tornadoes, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.
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