Florence may have left the Carolinas, but she’s left havoc in her wake. And a number of local groups are pitching in to help with recovery efforts.
The American Red Cross Delmarva and Chesapeake Chapters, as well as the Delaware National Guard are among the local groups providing assistance.
Theresa Young is the executive director of the American Red Cross Delmarva Chapter. She says several emergency response volunteers have already been deployed and several others are on standby.
“They’re part of many different strategies. We have some shelter workers who are very experenced and capable of sheltering. And just the other night we had 15,000 people that sought refuge in more than 150 Red Cross and community shelters,” said Young.
She says there are two things the Red Cross says people here in Delaware can do.
“The first is to please give blood. We had over 170 blood drives that were forced to cancel and that’s 4,600 un-collected blood and platelet donations. The other part is that we rely heavily on the financial donations of the community to respond to the relief," Young said.
You can call the Blood Bank of Delmarva at 1-888-8-BLOOD-8 to make an appointment to donate blood.
And Young says donations to help those affected by Florence can be made here, by calling 1-800-Red-Cross or texting the word “Florence” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
The Delaware National Guard recently sent six Guardsmen to Arlington, Virginia to work at NGB’s Joint C4 Communications Center and one Air National Guardsman to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to support the Crisis Action team - the team on the ground in the Carolinas.
“What these Delaware Guardsmen are doing is vitally important to the boots on the ground there. So, while they are not there in person, they are working the logistics, the communications portion, and they are solving these challenges these folks are experiencing down in the Carolinas, said Delaware National Guard public affairs director Bernie Kale.
Both the Guard and Red Cross say they’ll continue to assist residents of the Carolinas as long as they are needed.
