Thousands of Red Cross Volunteers Help Victims of Sandy

By Vickie Frantz, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

November 7,2012; 3:07PM,EST

More than 4,000 Red Cross relief workers are offering assistance to people whose lives have been impacted by Sandy.
"Our entire fleet of response vehicles and thousands of Red Crossers are on the ground helping people affected by Sandy," said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president of Disaster Services for the American Red Cross. "We're driving through neighborhoods in all five boroughs in New York and parts of New Jersey to provide food, water, supplies and comfort."
Millions of people were left without power in the days after Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast. At least 110 people were killed. Many others lost their homes and all of their possessions.
The total economic damages from Sandy are reported to be $30 billion to $50 billion, according to estimates from EQECAT, a firm that specializes in storm damage forecasting.
On Friday night, more than 6,100 people were staying in Red Cross shelters in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio, according to a Red Cross press release.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Meghan Evans spoke with Anna Kate Twitty, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross on Friday.
Twitty said, "We've also got mobile kitchens that are on the way and are going to start setting up soon. They can cook over 100,000 meals in one day."
Over the past week, the Red Cross has served more than 398,000 meals and snacks to people in need. In addition to passing out food and water, the Red Cross volunteers are also handing out other relief supplies.
"We've also got 50 trailers of relief supplies and they're coming with clean-up kits, rakes, shovels, tarps, dust masks and work gloves," said Twitty.
Twitty also recommended that anyone without power who or who doesn't have a place to stay, come and stay in one of the Red Cross shelters.
"What you're going to find at a Red Cross shelter is going to be a safe environment, it's going to be warm. You're going to have blankets," said Twitty.
At one shelter in the Nassau Community College (located in East Garden City, New York) an estimated 1,200 people came. Twitty ran into a woman she had helped at the same shelter during Hurricane Irene. The woman was part of a family of 11 staying at the shelter.
Twitty said,"She came up to me the other day and showed me some pictures. Her home is destroyed. But you know what, she looked me in the face and said,'We're going to get through this. We're here together and we're safe. And we're just so grateful for the Red Cross.' So it's just a sense of community in our shelters."
Ways you can help.
Those who want to help can make a donation to support American 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.
You can also use the "donate" feature on the free Red Cross Apps for mobile devices to support the relief response. Contributions may also be sent to local Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.





Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, Red Cross volunteer Kay Ralph of Crystal River, Florida, hands out food to residents of the ocean front town of Belmar, New Jersey who have been without power since Hurricane Sandy hit. The Red Cross is providing hot meals, snacks and bottled water. (Les Stone/American Red Cross)