Red Cross to Distribute Clean-Up Kits in Newfield Saturday

Volunteers distribute cleanup kits in Wyoming County
earlier this week

Volunteers from the American Red Cross will be distributing water, food, snacks and clean-up kits in Newfield Saturday to help those affected by recent flooding. The Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) will be arriving at the Newfield Fire House on Main Street in Newfield between 9am-9:30am Saturday, June 20.

The approximately 50 clean up kits  include mops, buckets, bleach and more to help residents as they clean up after the recent storms. Volunteers will also be distributing bottles of water, heater meals and other snacks.

After last weekend’s storms, Red Cross volunteers opened a shelter in the Tompkins County town of Newfield, where 12 people spent Sunday night. Four families spent Sunday Night at a Red Cross shelter in the Tioga County town of Spencer, and reception centers were opened at the Bradford School and Odessa Fire Department in Schuyler County. The Red Cross has distributed dozens of cleanup kits in Ontario and Wyoming Counties, and remains in contact with emergency officials from across the 26-County Western and Central New York Region and remains on standby to launch an additional response should conditions worsen.

The Red Cross relies on financial contributions to provide help and comfort to disaster victims anywhere, anytime. You can help people affected by disasters like flooding, home fires and countless other crises by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. 

Volunteers Deploying to help in Flooding, Wildfire Relief Efforts

Two volunteers from the Western and Central New York Region are deploying this week to assist in American Red Cross relief efforts across the country.

Lorraine Morris of Bath, NY is deploying to Alaska Friday, where she will serve in Disaster Services Technology/Computer Operations in the response to recent wildfires. 

Herbert Wolfe of Rochester traveled to Louisiana Thursday to serve as Disaster Assessment Manager in the flood relief efforts. Wolfe will take teams into some of the hardest hit areas to assess the need and make sure relief is provided where it is needed most.

Lockport, NY's Diane Sargent in Oklahoma in May 2015

Across the country, relentless rain and raging wildfires have forced people from their homes, and the Red Cross is there providing support and comfort. Just this week alone, the Red Cross has helped people in 14 states affected by floods and wildfires.  Almost 250 people impacted by the flooding and fires spend Wednesday night in Red Cross shelters in Texas, Alaska, California, Arizona, Indiana and Idaho. Over the past few weeks, more than 2,790 trained Red Cross workers have served more than 590,000 meals and snacks, distributed 150,000 relief items and opened more than 85 shelters, providing 3,400 shelter stays.

HOW TO HELP A donation to Red Cross Disaster Relief can help provide food, water and shelter for someone who has to leave their home. Help people affected by disasters like floods, wildfires and other emergencies by making a gift to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. To donate, people can visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

DOWNLOAD THE EMERGENCY APP The Red Cross “Emergency” app can help keep you and your loved ones safe by putting vital information in your hand for more than 35 different severe weather and emergency alerts, including flooding and wildfires. You can find it in smartphone app stores by searching for American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

Haiti on my Mind, by volunteer Winnie Romeril

A lot of people ask when am I headed out to the next crisis. The thing about responding to international emergencies is that no timeline exists. 

I recently returned from six months working on the Ebola response. Often in Sierra Leone, my mind turned to Haiti. Freetown reminded me of Port au Prince. Both are port cities with pastel-colored houses piled up mountainsides rising quickly from the sea. In both places, the people are mostly young--around 60 percent under 25 years old--figuring out how to get by in the face of unbelievably high unemployment. Both countries were getting back on track after emerging from a history filled with conflict, only to suffer tragedy on an epic scale.

The American Red Cross sent a team of us to Haiti immediately following the 2010 earthquake to

Winnie Romeril in Haiti

give help where it was needed most. We supported our permanent in-country staff who had worked for years with Haitian Red Cross volunteers in disaster preparedness, public first aid training and HIV/AIDS programs. They narrowly escaped when their Red Cross offices shook violently for less than a minute and blew out the wall where they exited with their lives.

Five and a half years later, Haiti continues to emerge from the dust and rubble of that day. In the Red Cross, we know that recovery from catastrophic disasters takes many years. We have only to look at communities on our own Gulf Coast still searching for normal 11 years on from Katrina. Yet we also have the privilege of accompanying survivors of disasters as they walk their individual roads to recovery. Every recovery is unique and we tailor our support based on lessons from previous experience.

One key change in our initial response to the Haiti earthquake was based on lessons from the Indian Ocean tsunami. We asked tsunami survivors how we could improve aid to people for the next disaster. One thing they said was, in essence, “Thank you for the help, but this doesn't feel like my home when it has your logo on it.” Since returning dignity to disaster victims is paramount, we took their concern to heart. In Haiti, the Red Cross imported and distributed over one-third of all tarps for temporary shelter, covering more than 800,000 survivors. The tarps were everywhere you looked and easy to spot, if you knew what to look for--plain light grey with a dark blue or grey stripe. Yet many a visiting politician and journalist complained they didn't see evidence of Red Cross aid other than the red crosses worn by our volunteers or painted on our trucks. While I did my best to explain our rationale and what to look for, sometimes the press didn't get it right.

Five and a half years on, the American Red Cross has helped build and operate eight hospitals and clinics, stem a deadly cholera outbreak, provide clean water and sanitation, and move more than 100,000 people out of make-shift tents into safe and improved housing. When land was not available for new homes, the Red Cross provided a range of housing solutions including rental subsidies, repairs and retrofitting of existing structures, fulfilling our promise to ensure tens of thousands of Haitians are back in homes. We also built and repaired schools, roadways and water distribution points vital to neighborhoods. 

It’s important to keep Haiti on our minds.

Winnie Romeril, International Response Team

American Red Cross

Seven Regional Volunteers Spending Holiday Serving in Storm Response Efforts

American Red Cross volunteers Lucille Frisicano of Webster and Diane Sargent of Lockport are deploying to Oklahoma Monday to assist in the Red Cross relief efforts following recent tornadoes and severe weather. Frisicano will serve as a Health Services Supervisor, while Sargent will be a Disaster Assessment Supervisor

Frisicano and Sargent become the sixth annd seventh volunteers from the Western and Central New York Region deployed to help in the Red Cross response to severe storms across the country:

NAME, HOMETOWN                   LOCATION               ACTIVITY

Lee Campfield, Apalachin                 Texas                          Feeding Supervisor

Tom Daley, Tonawanda                    Texas                          Client Casework

Lucille Frisicano, Webster                Oklahoma                   Health Services Supervisor

Greg Langen, Pittsford                      Texas                          Disaster Assessment

Donald Nelson, Endwell                   Texas                          Sheltering Supervisor

Sarah Perkins, Pittsford                    Texas                          Disaster Assessment
Diane Sargent, Lockport                   Oklahoma                  Disaster Assessment                  

The American Red Cross continues to help people affected by the ongoing severe weather, providing shelter, food and support as those impacted by the storms figure out what to do next.

 

Red Cross shelters are still open in Oklahoma and Texas. Red Cross workers have been providing shelter and food, cleaning supplies, health and mental health services, helping with damage assessment and meeting with families to help plan their next steps. Emergency response vehicles are traveling through the affected areas, bringing people food and relief supplies and Resource Centers are also open where people can come to be helped by multiple organizations. In the days and weeks ahead, the Red Cross will also provide health services and emotional support as residents begin to recover from the storms.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Nearly every second of every day, the Red Cross delivers help and hope. And we couldn’t be there without the generous support of the American public. On June 2, join the American Red Cross for our inaugural Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraising campaign to support those in need in communities across the country. Together, let’s go “all in” and make one day count. Schedule your donation today for Giving Day at redcross.org/givingday. You can also help build awareness by using the hashtag #allin1day on Twitter and Facebook.