A Time to Help

Red Cross begins Hurricane 2008 Season with $0 in the Disaster Relief Fund

Unfortunately disasters don’t wait until the money has been raised to occur.  After spending $35 million on the mid-west flood operation this spring, we started Hurricane Season 2008 with a $0 balance.  Red Cross estimates it will spend between $40-$70 million on our Gulf Coast relief effort for Gustav and we’ve only raised 3% of what we need.

□ There’s a perception that Louisiana “dodged a bullet” from Gustav. But we’re still at work:
□ Feeding and sheltering those who have returned home, including providing more than 400,000 meals a day
□ Preparing to come to the aid of those who may be affected by Hurricane Ike, depending on the track of the storm.
□ Donors can go online to www.redcross.org or call 1-800-REDCROSS.
□ You can also use your cell phone to donate $5 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by text messaging the keyword “GIVE” to “2HELP” (24357). Customers can send up to four $5 text message donations. Contributions will appear on monthly bills or be debited from a prepaid account balance. All applicable text rates apply. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, you should call 1-800-REDCROSS.
□ Your donations will help us operate our shelters and provide meals for evacuees, victims and clean up workers. It buys things like food, cots, blankets, toiletries, clean-up supplies. Donations also ensure that we can move our volunteers to the region and provide vital services like mental health and first aid.

You can also send your donations to the Chapter at 318 Washington Street, Frankfort, KY  40601 designated for the National Disaster Relief Fund and we will send it on where it is needed most.

Disaster volunteer and newly trained ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) driver Jay Johnson poses while on assignment in Mississippi.  He and Paul Ford deployed August 28 to Hurricane Gustav and await reassignment with landfall of Hurricane Ike.  Jan Fowler has been working Mass Care: Feeding in Baton Rouge since being deployed on August 29.  Bobby Turner, who left August 30 moved from Lufkin TX, to Dallas, to Fort Worth and on to the Hurricane Ike staging center in Orlando.

Back home in Kentucky volunteers Rose Blandford, Donna Yount, Elisha Barnett, Bobby and Kathy Casey, and Andrea Sieloff helped with the Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville; while Chad Woolums and Larry Burnette staffed the Emergency Operations Center at Boone National Guard.  At its peak the shelter had 1,488 registered guests. 

You can help the victims of thousands of disaster across the country each year, disasters like Hurricane Gustav, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of the donation. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Donations can also be mailed to the American Red Cross, 318 Washington Street , Frankfort , KY 40601 or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243 , Washington , D.C. 20013 . Internet users can make secure online credit card donations by visiting www.redcross.org.

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