Red Cross Disaster Relief Needs Your Continued Support

The Disaster Team at the American Red Cross Jersey Coast Chapter has been very busy this past quarter helping victims within our region and throughout the state. The chapter could use some donations to replenish its supplies and to continue to fund its various disaster programs. Check out some of what the chapter has been doing lately:

The chapter is delivering hundreds of clean up kits this afternoon to storm victims in Bound Brook, where the Red Cross has been sheltering victims for about a week.

The chapter provided temporary housing for flood victims rescued by boat from their apartment development along Beers Street in Keyport last week. Be sure to thank the Holiday Inn in Hazlet for their support of Red Cross disaster assistance. They not only provide discounted temp housing through an arrangement with the Red Cross, their staff are ultimately patient and cooperative when disaster victims need community support the most.

The chapter set up a shelter yesterday in Waretown after brush fires in Barnegat forced evacuations.

The chapter provided disaster relief at the Ocean Grove fire a little over a week ago. The Red Cross provides aid to rescue workers as well as victims.

The chapter sent a volunteer to Strathmore Elementary School in Aberdeen to accept a large donation from the students, who conducted a Relay-a-thon fund raiser for the American Red Cross's Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund. The presentation of the check was covered by News 12 New Jersey.

The chapter delivered cots and supplies and helped run several shelters in and near Cape May in response to a disabling snow storm in early February that forced local residents from their private homes and senior centers. Disaster relief involved some volunteers traveling in a blinding snow storm through drifting snow in Red Cross vehicles specially equipped to the task, while others manned a command center 24/7 in Tinton Falls to help coordinate the relief effort.

Volunteers and paid staff meet regularly to coordinate disaster services and plan for future needs. The chapter is designated a regional center because it maintains such a large warehouse of disaster relief supplies. As such, it has forklifts, trucks, disaster relief vehicles, etc. All of these disaster services are delivered at the lowest possible cost, but contributions are still required to maintain the chapter's disaster readiness. Please keep your local chapter of the American Red Cross in mind when considering your benevolent giving.