Published: July 01, 2008 10:32 am      

VOLUNTEERS: Helping flood victims

The American Red Cross in Orleans County is taking action in response to the disastrous tornadoes and floods that have swept the South and Midwest recently.

Interim Executive Director Diana Fulcomer and disaster instructor Darla McGill are in the process of determining which of their volunteers are eligible and willing to be sent to the front lines for direct aid.

Financial assistance, volunteers and blood donations are also desperately needed, they said. More than $30 million has been spent in American Red Cross relief efforts thus far, an amount that far exceeds the American National Disaster Relief Fund, Fulcomer said.

“This is the biggest disaster since (Hurricane) Katrina,” McGill said. “It was even bigger than the wildfires.”

The destruction began in February when tornadoes touched down in Northern Alabama, Tennessee, North Arkansas, Northern Mississippi and West Kentucky, Fulcomer said. Severe flooding hit Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas in March.

Southeastern Virginia and Arkansas were left to face additional tornado damage in April and May, followed by a series of Mother’s Day tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri and Georgia, she said. The past month has seen flooding and tornadoes in Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

In the past 10 weeks alone, the American Red Cross responded to 36 separate disasters nationwide, McGill said. They provided those left behind with emergency assistance, first aid, shelter, meals and snacks, cleanup kits for their homes and mental health professional contacts.

The American Red Cross in Orleans County strives to do all they can to help, Fulcomer said.

“If we had a disaster, those chapters out there would be responding to us,” she said.

Local residents interested in facilitating American Red Cross efforts can lend a hand in one of three ways, Fulcomer said.

• Donate to the National Disaster Relief Fund through the American Red Cross in Orleans County.

• Give blood.

• Volunteer.

Individuals are always welcome to help out in the office or to become disaster relief responders.

Disaster training is provided free of charge at the Medina office on a flexible, weekend schedule, McGill said. Three-year disaster response certification is granted upon completion of four, six-hour classes. CPR and First Aid training must be renewed annually and last a total of 8 hours.

Volunteers assist with community education, fundraising and special events. Disaster response team volunteers may choose to be placed on an after-hour call schedule for personal disasters, such as a house fire. Ambitious volunteers who want to go a step further can fulfill the necessary requirements to respond to national disasters, McGill said.

Approximately 50 county residents are on the Orleans County American Red Cross Disaster Services Human Resource team consisting of caseworkers, nurses, mental health professionals, shelter operation coordinators and public relations specialists, Fulcomer said. Their levels of training vary.

It is members of this team that Fulcomer and McGill will deploy to assist neighboring states.

“We have trained individuals ready to respond,” Fulcomer said.

New York State Disaster Leave Law allows individuals to take a temporary, paid leave for Red Cross disaster relief assignments, as long as the time does not exceed 20 days in any calendar year. Nine individuals from Orleans County responded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, she said.

Emergency aid that the American Red Cross in Orleans County provides locally increased significantly within the 2007-08 fiscal budget year, McGill said. Approximately $8,000 was spent on clothing, food and shelter for 73 individuals facing a personal disaster.

Oddly enough, the Red Cross disaster team was forced to come to the aid of the Red Cross, itself, three times in the past year due to roof troubles, Fulcomer said. Five hundred square feet of rubber roofing blew off the building June 7, 2007, 15 minutes into a Friday night Cruise-In in the Medina Canal Basin. Additional pieces blew off May 21 and June 13, causing flooding in the Red Cross offices that took weeks to dry out.

“All of the insulation was soaked,” Fulcomer said. “A lot of financial records were affected.”

Donations for the National Disaster Relief Fund can be sent to the American Red Cross in Orleans County, 421 Main St., Medina.

For more information about donations, future blood drives or volunteering, call Fulcomer or McGill at 798-3170. Blood donation schedules are available on the Web at donatebloodnow.org. Phone calls can be placed to 1-800-DONATE-NOW.

The number of Red Cross volunteers in the county is at an estimated all-time low, McGill said. She hopes to create a youth volunteer division to help instill the importance of the Red Cross in the county.

“There are several ways the community can reach out,” Fulcomer said.

Contact reporter Nicole Colemanat 798-1400, ext. 8227.