"Gimmie Shelter"? Our volunteers can do that!

"Oh, a storm is threatnin'

Photo courtesy buffalobills.com

My very life today.
If I don't get some shelter
Oh, I'm gonna fade away."
-The Rolling Stones

The Ralph will be rocking Saturday, and from the sound of things, it seems like all of Western and Central New York will be at the Stadium to see "the worlds greatest rock and roll band" live. In one of The Rolling Stones best-known songs, Mick Jagger pleads with listeners to "Gimmie Shelter". Well, Mick, that's something our volunteers do for their neighbors in need each and every day.

Just last week, when flash floods washed through parts of Syracuse, our volunteers set up a shelter at the Westcott Community Center in the early morning hours, before later moving to St. Lucy's Church, ensuring evacuated residents had a safe, warm place to stay. In November, when the area around Ralph Wilson Stadium was covered in as much as eight feet of snow, Red Cross volunteers operated or supported 19 different shelters, providing over 600 overnight stays for travelers stranded by Thruway and other road closures.

This is probably not what Mick Jagger had in mind, but
our volunteers operated or supported 19 shelters during
"Snowvember 2014"

It's not always a storm that forces someone to need shelter. An average of three times a day across the Western and Central New York Region, a family is forced from their home after a fire. Our volunteers are there then too, offering a place to stay, food, clothing and support, as they did for eight people who lost everything after an Elmira fire Thursday.

So whether it's because "a storm was threatnin'" or "a fire was sweepin'", the Red Cross volunteers are always ready to "Gimmie Shelter", even while thousands of us will be listening to the Stones sing one of my all-time favorite songs live.

Do you want to help answer Mick's call? Learn more about becoming a Red Cross volunteer on our website.

"Your volunteers are amazing!"

Julie Perl at the Red Cross shelter at Westcott Community
Center in Syracuse Wednesday afternoon

Julie Perl thought her Tuesday was winding down as she left class at Bryant and Stratton College and headed home around 10pm, but unfortunately, her evening's journey was just beginning.

"I was headed down James Street, saw the fire trucks, and started freaking out," Perl said at the Red Cross shelter at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse Wednesday. Heavy rains had caused flash flooding in many areas of the city. At Perl's apartment complex, the power had been cut as the waters filled the basement and reached the electrical wiring, and the fire department told Julie and her family they had to leave.

"I've been here since 2:30 this morning," Perl said of the shelter. "The volunteers have been amazing. On the news, you see they're everywhere, but I've never had to deal with a situation where the Red Cross stepped in. They brought out snacks for the kids at 2:30 a.m., gave us water, blankets, breakfast this morning."

Perl and a couple of her fellow shelter residents actually helped set up the cots that 18 people slept on Tuesday night. She feels that's the least they could for the volunteers that were helping them. Volunteers like Rich Plumpton, who had just returned from two weeks working with the Red Cross relief efforts in Oklahoma three days earlier.

Julie Perl and her grandson enjoying lunch at the Wescott
Community Center shelter

"You couldn't ask for a better bunch of people," Perl said. "They actually felt bad that they didn't have any toys for my grandkids. But they gave them Mickey Mouse, and that made the kids so happy. They actually slept with the Mickeys!"

Later Wednesday afternoon, the shelter moved to St. Lucy's Church on Gifford Street, where 20 people spent Wednesday night. Julie Perl says she doesn't know what she would've done if it wasn't for the Red Cross.

"I have family, but they have things that they do, and don't have the room to put us up," she said. "We probably would've been in a shelter that's not fit for kids."

"Smoke Detectors Save Lives"

I woke up this morning and saw this Tweet from WKBW-TV in Buffalo:

The story of a home fire is all too familiar. Volunteers Diane and Fred helped five people after that early morning fire on Ideal Street, hours after Diane and Nicole provided for the immediate emergency needs of one person after a fire on Best Street. Volunteers responded to three disasters in Syracuse overnight, and on Tuesday DAT members responded to separate fires in Olean, Jamestown and Ripley.

Here's what made this story a bit different: "A fire official told 7 Eyewitness News smoke detectors in the home were working and 'saved their lives'." 

The American Red Cross has launched a campaign to reduce the number of deaths and injuries from fires by as much as 25% over the next five years. The Red Cross is calling on everyone to take two simple steps that can save lives: check their existing smoke alarms and practice fire drills at home.

Unfortunately, not every home has a working smoke detector. Seven times a day, someone in the United States dies in a fire. The Red Cross is joining with fire departments and community groups nationwide to install smoke alarms in communities with high numbers of fires.

For more information about how you or a loved one can have a free smoke alarm installed in your home, contact Individual and Community Preparedness Specialist Veronica Chiesi Brown. Together, we can help change the statistics and wake up to more success stories.

-Jay Bonafede, Regional Chief Communications Officer