They will be providing food & shelter to residents displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
Baltimore, Md. (KM). Volunteers from the Western Maryland Chapter of the American Red Cross are heading to Texas to help with flood relief efforts. 100 volunteers are being sent to the Houston area which was hit hard with a lot of flooding by Hurricane Harvey. “Most of our volunteers that are going out now will be working in sheltering, which means they’ll be acting as staff in the shelters, helping to accommodate, register and take care of our clients’ needs while they’re in the shelter,” says Beverley Stambaugh, the Executive Director of the Red Cross Chapter of Western Maryland. She says those needs including food and lodging for residents who have been displaced by the flooding.
Stambaugh says these shelters will be located away from the high water. “We try to strategically place a lot of our evacuations or a lot of our shelters in areas that are outside of the high danger areas, in this the flood areas,” she says. “So a lot of times, our shelters are a little bit further removed from the immediate area. But that’s for good reason because the point of shelter is to provide some immediate, safe place and lodging for individuals for 24 to 48 hours, or even longer as needed.”
If a natural disaster or emergency occurs in western Maryland, Stambaugh says there are enough volunteers locally to handle that. “We always do maintain an active,volunteer roster, individuals ready to respond for whatever disaster may happen here. Our local needs are just as important as those happening nationally,” she says.
Anyone who would like to help can sent cash contributions to the Red Cross at 1131 Conrad Court, Hagerstown, Md. , 21740. Stambaugh says indicate on your check that the money is for Hurricane Harvey relief. They can also go to RedCross.org/gcr.
By Kevin McManus