Five volunteers from Nebraska are assisting residents impacted by last week’s hurricane that wreaked havoc throughout southeast portions of the country.
The Red Cross has deployed more than 45 emergency response vehicles to get help to where needed and about two dozen more are enroute. Where it is safe to do so, Red Cross disaster responders are aboard these vehicles, traveling throughout affected communities, assessing the damage and distributing meals and relief supplies.
Almost 1,400 disaster workers are helping with more on their way.
“They’ll be doing a variety of things. They’re helping shelters, helping those residents make sure they have a place to stay, some warm meals, getting other needs taken care of. We’ll also have folks who will drive through with our emergency response vehicles going through the affected areas, delivering food, relief supplies, cleanup supplies, just checking on the needs of folks that way,” said Josh Murray, Red Cross Regional Communications Director. “They’ll probably be there for at least a couple weeks and maybe longer if that need arises.”
There are several ways folks at home can help those affected by Hurricane Helene. Financial donations have the greatest capacity to help. Nebraskans can visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) to make a financial donations. Individuals can also text ‘HELENE’ to 90999 to make a donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster.
Ninety percent of the Red Cross workforce is volunteers. Those interested in making a difference at home or across the country can visit redcross.org/volunteer to learn how to become a volunteer. There are opportunities to help locally or deploy to large disasters in other parts of the country.
This storm has also canceled blood drives throughout the affected region, causing more than 1,500 blood donations to go uncollected. Those outside the affected areas are encouraged to schedule a blood donation appointment now by visiting RedCrossBlood.org or using the Blood Donor App to help restock the shelves. Through our national inventory, the Red Cross has the ability to move blood wherever and whenever it is needed most.