American Red Cross of Rock River Gets Swamped With Calls After Hurricane Sandy
By: Vi Nguyen
Updated: October 30, 2012
The executive director said, people have been calling in and asking for ways to help in the devastion and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Lisa LaSala is the Executive Director for the American Red Cross of Rock River.
She said, the chapter received more than 50 calls since this morning from people wanting to volunteer their time and service to those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
"The Red Cross does have a process. We would need people who are interested in wanting to go to fill out an application and go through some training," said LaSala.
Candidates wishing to volunteer must first go through extensive hours of training and undergo a background check.
This is all to ensure volunteers are providing the highest quality of service in time of need.
"Our first and foremost is to make sure everybody is safe. So we provided shelter, health care, mental health services, and any other services that people in that area need," said LaSala.
The Rock River chapter deployed 7 people to the east coast to assist with relief efforts, 6 of which are volunteers and 1 is a staff member.
Lasala said, volunteers are doing everything they can to help in what experts are calling the storm of the century.
"In comparison throughout our national organization, they're comparing this storm to Katrina. So this will really be a devasting hurricance and affecting a larger span of the nation," said LaSala.
The Rock River chapter is not deploying anymore volunteers at this time to the east coast due to safety concerns from the storm.
The non-profit organization however is accepting monetary donations to assist with relief efforts.
For more information how on you can help just visit the American Red Cross website or call (815) 963- 8471.
