American Red Cross in urgent need of volunteers for Hurricane Helene relief
DALLAS - The American Red Cross North Texas Region is making an urgent plea for volunteers who are willing to travel to help those displaced by Hurricane Helene.
The Red Cross has 70 shelters set up across parts of the southeast that they’re supporting in response to the hurricane. But they’re spread thin on staff for those shelters.
Volunteers make up 90% of the organization’s workforce and many have already been deployed to affected states in the southeast.
"It takes a little while to get people moved out of the shelters into more permanent housing solutions. So, we’re expecting to need volunteers to rotate in every couple of weeks. So, we need hundreds of people who are willing to do that," said Linda Braddy, the American Red Cross North Texas Region CEO.
All candidates must complete the necessary training, which is about 4 to 6 hours, and be able to commit to a two-week deployment.
Applicants who don’t have disaster experience but have supervision, management, or organizational skills are encouraged to apply.
The Red Cross also needs caseworkers to help with military-connected families affected by the hurricane.
Hundreds of US troops battle devastation caused by 'biblical' Helene floods
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Helene has caused unprecedented devastation across the western portion of the state. He emphasized the scale of the recovery ahead, stating: "This will be a long and difficult recovery."
Miguel Guitierrez has been volunteering for about seven months. But he’s heading out to the southeast for his first deployment on Thursday.
The 26-year-old North Texan, who is also fluent in Spanish, is eager to help. He hopes others will be too.
"I need to just help others because of the situation I’m in. I have a place to sleep, and some people don’t because of something that suddenly happened. Makes me want to help them," he said.
If you’d like to apply to be a volunteer, visit www.redcross.org/volunteer.
Hurricane Helene has caused more than 1,500 blood donations to go uncollected in the southeast. So, even donating blood can help the people there.
Texas A&M Air Force 1 dispatched to Helene relief
Texas A&M Task Force 1 helps with hurricane relief
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has now surpassed 180 people. The president took a tour of hard-hit areas in North Carolina and promised continued federal support for relief and recovery. Meanwhile, North Texans with the Texas A&M Task Force One have been on the ground in the region since before Helene made landfall last week.
North Texans with the Texas A&M Task Force 1 have been on the ground in the region since before Helene made landfall last week.
Landon Stallings is the task force leader.
"What we found on the way was obviously a lot of tree and tree damage from the wind, and then the rains had eroded a lot of the roadway under," he said.
The retired Fort Worth firefighter is one of 29 first responders from North Texas lending a hand.
The task force was first deployed to Florida before Helene made landfall. Now, they’re in Yancey County, just north of Asheville.
The area received more than 31 inches of rain in a three-day period.
"But clearly that kind of water clear just literally moved mountains and so large, large sections of Earth are gone, including the homes and the foundations the debris piles include very large trees, cars," Stallings said. "And it's just a web of destruction and debris piles to try to manage."
Texas A&M Task Force 1 is helping with search and rescue operations and assisting the local agencies to get an accurate report on the damages.
While the recovery will take days, weeks and even months for some states – the people who live there are resilient.
"Makes me a little emotional now, but I think that in a lot of ways just knowing that something's being done is good enough for the. And they're being very patient, understanding the scale at which this incident is."