There they go again!

We say it all the time, but we'll say it again today. Our volunteers are AWESOME!! Imagine willingly giving up two weeks of your life to travel to an area that's virtually underwater, just so you can help those whose lives have been turned upside down by the devastation. Well, two of our volunteers did just that today.

Susan Peek and Diane Sargent packed and ready to
fly to Florida to assist in Tropical Storm Debby relief efforts

Susan Peek and Diane Sargent boarded a plane for Tampa, Florida this morning to join more than 240 other trained Red Cross disaster workers helping people affected by Tropical Storm Debby. This is Susan's first deployment, but she couldn't have a better trainer. Diane has been on more than a dozen deployments and will help Susan  as they do disaster assessment throughout the affected communities. The Red Cross is currently supporting relief efforts by providing safe shelter, warm meals (more than 6,800 since June 24th!) and distributing relief supplies like flashlights, work gloves, rakes, shovels and tarps. Diane and Susan's work will help make sure those efforts are focused where they are needed most.


On the other side of the country, wildfires have forced thousands of people from their homes. More than 355 people spent Thursday night in nine red cross shelters across Colorado and Montana. Once again, Western New Yorkers are on the job as Beth Shook, who volunteers out of our Southwestern New York Chapter, is on the way to Colorado, where the Red Cross has served more than 36,000 meals and snacks and made over 3,800 health and mental health contacts since June 9th. It is possible that additional volunteers from the area could be deployed depending on how these situations progress.

Diane and Susan tell the media about what they expect
to see in do during their Florida deployment

Before leaving, Susan and Diane had the chance to talk to the media about why they're going and what they expect to see once they arrive in Florida. Our volunteers don't like to talk about themselves, but rather focus on who they're helping and how, even if it means doing a little Red Cross PR along the way. We can't thank them and all of our volunteers enough for their service, and we look forward to their safe return.

If you'd like to help out, please consider making a gift to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by calling 1-800-REDCROSS, visiting www.redcross.org, or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your neighbors in need thank you.