As the country heads into what experts say will be very active wildfire and hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, the American Red Cross has been busy responding to various disasters.
Since March, trained Red Cross disaster workers have responded to up to 28 hurricanes and tornadoes in 18 states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas , Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
This is more than tens of thousands of smaller disasters such as house fires. Red Cross disaster workers respond to more than 60,000 disasters each year and most of these responses are to support families who have experienced a fire in their home.
28 STORM and STORM
These are just a few of the emergencies that have occurred over the past few months:
Louisiana -in late March a tornado fell in the southeastern part of the state, destroying homes and devastating the Arab town. At 160 mph winds, the tornado was the strongest on record to hit the area.
Mississippi – in mid -April, a tornado hit Beaumont causing severe damage.
Oklahoma – In the first week of May, Oklahoma was hit by several tornadoes in the northeast and flooding in the center of the state.
Montana – Destructive flooding hit Yellowstone National Park and surrounding towns this month, closing the park and forcing 10,000 visitors to evacuate.
Florida -Earlier in June, a strong storm system brought heavy rains to the southern tip of the state, causing widespread flooding.
RED CROSS RESPONSE
In all of these emergencies, Red Cross disaster teams provided support to those affected. This assistance usually includes a safe place to stay, beds, blankets, water, personal hygiene and cleaning kits and other critical assistance supplies.
To support families who have suffered unimaginable loss, the Red Cross has provided mental health, health services and spiritual care services.
In addition, Red Cross caseworkers met with people in need of additional assistance to determine what resources would help their recovery.
HOW CAN YOU HELP
PREPARE YOUR HOUSE Make sure your family is prepared for disasters.
- Make an evacuation plan. If you already have a plan, update it and review it with family members so everyone knows what to do if an emergency occurs.
- Make an emergency kit. If you already have a disaster kit, now is the time to make sure the food and water to consume is still okay and the copies of important documents are up to date.
- Be informed. Find out how local officials will contact you during an emergency and how you can get important information, such as evacuation orders.
- Download the free Red Cross Emergency app to help keep you and your loved ones safe with real-time alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety advice in emergencies.
VOLUNTARY As we go to what experts say will be very busy during wildfires and storms, the Red Cross needs more volunteers to respond to these emergencies. The need to help during a disaster has never been greater. Join us to provide relief and hope when it matters most. Visit redcross.org to sign up today.
DONATE You can help people affected by disasters such as hurricanes, floods and countless other crises by donating to support Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift allows the Red Cross to prepare, respond and help people recover from disasters, large and small. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $ 10 donation.
GIVE BLOOD Blood donations typically drop at this time of year-especially during holiday weeks like Independence Day-but the need for blood and platelet transfusions doesn’t take a break in the summer. A generous donor of blood and platelets is essential in ensuring that life-saving care is available as soon as patients need it. To schedule an appointment to donate, download Red Cross Blood Donor Appvisit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
HELP CORPORATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS Generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters large and small, responding whenever and wherever disasters happen and help families during the recovery process.
ADGP $ 1 Million members are: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Best Buy; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Latter -day Saint Charities; Lilly Endowment Inc .; Lowe’s Companies, Inc .; McDonald’s Corporation; Microsoft Corp .; Nationwide Foundation; PetSmart Charities; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; at Wells Fargo.
ADGP $ 500,000 members are: Altria Group; Aon; Bread Finance; Calmoseptine, Inc .; Capital One; CarMax; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental Community Care Foundation; Dollar General; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; The Home Depot Foundation; Global Paper; The JM Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Organon; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stanley Black & Decker; Target; TJX Companies, Inc .; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.
Disaster Responder Program members are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; American Express; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc .; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; CDW; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Company; CSX; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equal; FirstEnergy Corporation; Gopuff; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; HCA Health Care; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Humble Bundle; Kaiser Permanente; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc .; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc .; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Procter & Gamble; Prudential Financial; Raytheon Technologies; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Project, a New Venture Fund project; Ross Stores Foundation; Ryder System, Inc .; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Lending Hand Foundation of Security Finance; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Tata Consulting Services; Haul International; US Bank Foundation; at Zurich.