Western New York/Finger Lakes Red Cross Assisting 26 People Following Weekend Disasters

Volunteers providing shelter, food, clothing and support after six incidents

BUFFALO, NY, November 4, 2013 – American Red Cross volunteers are assisting with the immediate emergency needs of 26 people following six separate fires or other disasters in the Western New York/Finger Lakes Regions over the weekend. Red Cross assistance typically includes vouchers for temporary housing, food and clothing as well as mental health support. The families will then meet with caseworkers at their local Red Cross headquarters to develop a long-term recovery plan. Several of these incidents took place at multi-unit buildings, so it is possible additional residents will come forward seeking assistance.

Fire scene on Steuben St. in Corning.
Photo courtesy Corning Leader

On Saturday, volunteers from the Disaster Action Team (DAT) were called to Gasport Road in Lockport, where they assisted two adults affected by a house fire. Also Saturday, volunteers assisted three people displaced after a car drove through their Williams Street home in Elmira. Sunday, DAT members assisted seven people after an apartment fire on Steuben Street in Corning. Also Sunday, volunteers responded to a fire at the Russo Building on Park Place in Fredonia, assisting 11 people who had been displaced, while a separate team of volunteers assisted two people following a fire on Webster Road in Brocton. Early Monday morning, DAT members responded to the scene of a fire on North Division in Buffalo to provide assistance to one person that had been displaced.

The American Red Cross spends an average of just over $1,000 when responding to a single house fire affecting a family of four.  To support people affected by house fires and other disasters, please consider making a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund at www.redcross.org, by calling 1-800-REDCROSS, or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation (charges will appear on your cell phone bill).

American Red Cross Relief Efforts Continue One Year After Sandy

WNY/Finger Lakes volunteers filled over 160 positions in response

A Red Cross volunteer assesses the damage in the Sea Gate
neighborhood near Coney Island

BUFFALO, NY, October 29, 2013 – The American Red Cross has released a one-year Superstorm Sandy report detailing its response and recovery work to help residents affected by this historic storm, which made landfall on October 29, 2012.

Initially, local Disaster Services staff and volunteers began mobilizing days earlier to prepare for a storm that was initially predicted to bring severe weather to the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions. Once it became clear that this area had largely been spared, attention turned to helping the millions of people devastated by Sandy along the East Coast. Volunteers from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions helped fill over 160 positions in the relief efforts, with most local volunteers working in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey.

The One-Year Superstorm Sandy Report details the extraordinary measures taken by the Red Cross to respond to Sandy, from volunteer deployment and relief efforts to temporary and permanent housing assistance to key partnerships with government and non-government entities, as well as the strong outpouring of support from donors.

Red Cross clean up kits are distributed to residents in
Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood

The Red Cross met Sandy’s significant damage with its largest U.S. response in five years. More than 17,000 trained workers from all over the country – 90 percent of them volunteers, powered the massive emergency relief effort. This response included:

•         Serving more than 17.5 million meals and snacks in a huge feeding operation.
•        Handing out more than 7 million relief items such as cold weather items and clean-up supplies.
•        Providing nearly 113,000 health services and emotional support contacts for people who have been living in very tough conditions.
•        Providing 74,000 overall shelter stays for Sandy.

“Donations to the Red Cross have helped countless families start over in a new place to live, clean out the mold from their water-logged homes, or get much-needed financial and emotional support to rebuild their homes and lives,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the Red Cross. “The needs are still great, and there is more work to do. We are committed to continue working with the communities that were impacted by this devastating storm to provide services and support.”

RECOVERY EFFORTS ONGOING Even as its emergency relief work was occurring, the Red Cross began to help people in the long recovery process that continues today. Trained Red Cross workers are meeting with those in need, providing case management and financial assistance to help with security and utility deposits, home repairs and rent as well as linking them to available social service programs.

Western New York and Finger Lakes Regional CEO Nancy Blaschak served as Interim Director of the Long Term Recovery Project in New York City and Long Island at the beginning of 2013. The Red Cross has worked together with government and community partners at every step to provide assistance to those that need it most. In addition, the Red Cross has given $60 million in grants to a number of nonprofits working in New Jersey and New York to help people with home repairs, mold remediation, food, financial assistance and financial counseling, and to support the work of community roundtables to help address unmet needs.

THANK YOU The work of the Red Cross is possible because of the compassion and generosity of the American public, and the Red Cross already has spent or made commitments to spend $280 million, more than 90 percent of the $308 million donated for Sandy. The Red Cross expects to use the biggest share of the remaining money to help people with a range of housing-related expenses, support community resiliency programs and give more grants to community non-profit partners to help Sandy survivors.

“We are grateful for the generosity of donors across the nation who continually make it possible for the Red Cross to respond to once-in-a-generation disasters like Sandy, as well as the 70,000 disasters we confront each year,” McGovern said.

The report and other information on the Red Cross Sandy relief and recovery efforts can be found at www.redcross.org/sandy-response.

Additional WNY/Finger Lakes Volunteers Deploying to Colorado

Tara Hughes providing Mental Health services following Navy Yard tragedy

Tara Hughes of Amherst, NY sharing Red Cross coping tips
following the Boston Marathon bombing in April. Tara is
now part of the Disaster Mental Health team responding to
the Navy Yard shooting.

The American Red Cross joins the nation and the Washington, D.C. community in expressing our sympathy and concern for those affected by the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Tara Hughes of Amherst, NY deployed on Tuesday to assist in the Disaster Mental Health response. Hughes recently led the Disaster Mental Health efforts following the Boston Marathon bombing and Sandy Hook school shooting.

In Colorado, the American Red Cross is supporting rescue operations by providing food, shelter, relief supplies and comfort to thousands of people forced from their homes by devastating flash flooding.

Two additional volunteers from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions will be deploying to support the Red Cross relief efforts. Sarah Perkins of Pittsford is deploying on Wednesday to do Disaster Assessment, and Dominic DiGirolamo of Belmont will be providing Disaster Mental Health support when he deploys on Thursday. Six volunteers from the 17 county Region will be among the over 400 trained disaster workers staffing shelters and evacuation centers in Colorado. A full list of area deployments is below.

The Red Cross continues to work closely with local emergency management officials in Colorado to ensure people get the help they need. As many as 500 people stayed in 14 shelters across Colorado on Monday night. Working with community partners, the Red Cross has served more than 10,000 meals and snacks and provided more than 1,700 health and mental health services for those affected. In the days to come, the Red Cross will be supporting Disaster Assistance Centers by offering relief supplies and other recovery support, and as flooded areas begin to reopen, the Red Cross will be there to assess the damage, distribute cleanup supplies and support a recovery effort that will take weeks and months.

HOW TO HELP People across the flooded areas need help now. The Red Cross has launched a massive relief effort to help people in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas and needs the continued support of the public to help those affected. People can make a donation to support Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to someone’s local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

WNY/FINGER LAKES RED CROSS VOLUNTEERS DEPLOYED

(FOR COLORADO FLOODING RELIEF UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

NAME, HOMETOWN	JOB	DEPARTURE DATE
Dominic DiGirolamo, Belmont	Disaster Mental Health	9/19
Lucille Frisciano, Webster	Health Services	9/17
Tara Hughes, Amherst	Disaster Mental Health (Navy Yard)	9/17
Sarah Perkins, Pittsford	Disaster Assessment	9/18
Bippin Shaw, Rochester	Health Services	9/17
Beth Shook, Cuba	Staff Services	9/17
Ferris Tood, Canandaigua	Disaster Mental Health	9/17

Reflections on 9/11

The WNY Families of Sept 11 annual flag tribute

I arrived at our Clement Mansion headquarters on Delaware Avenue at 5:30 this morning to see that live trucks from all four local television stations were already here. I was meeting Cynthia Blest from the Western New York Families of September 11 to talk with the media about the beautiful tribute the families place in the lawn ever year, with a flag representing each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on this date in 2001. It's impossible to see this moving display and not pause to reflect, and this year I started thinking about what 9/11 means to me now that I am a Red Crosser.

Honoring those with WNY connections lost on 9/11

Since all air travel was shut down following the attacks, it was volunteers from Western New York that hopped in their cars and were among the first to arrive at Ground Zero to begin the massive relief efforts. Really, those efforts continue 12 years later as Tara and Sr. Martha, volunteers from our Disaster Mental Health team still meet with the support group for Cynthia and other Western New York families who lost loved ones on 9/11, and we're proud to partner with these amazing people for this incredible tribute every year.

A little later, I represented the Red Cross at Hoover Elementary School's "Read with a Hero" day. I am absolutely not a hero, but I was humbled to stand alongside the real heroes--members of our military with multiple overseas deployments, police and first responders, doctors and nurses. The fact that we are asked to be a part of this event shows how important the work of the Red Cross is and how heroic the efforts of our volunteers really are.

Hoover Elementary School's "Read with a Hero" day gets
underway with an assembly filled with the singing of patriotic songs
and a history lesson for the students

Something else struck me at that assembly. The principal, Mrs. Paskowitz, pointed out that on September 11, 2001, not one of the students in that auditorium had even been born yet. It's so important that as we reflect, we also talk to our kids about what happened and the heroes who risked their lives to help. That's why I was proud to be able to surprise my son Jackson and tell his second grade class a little about the Red Cross heroes who helped 12 years ago and how we're helping our neighbors in need today.

#NeverForget.