American Red Cross Bay Area

American Red Cross Activates Bay Area Disaster Response Teams in Preparation for Tropical Storm Gustav

Local Red Cross Chapters Send Advance Disaster Response Teams and Emergency Response Vehicles to Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas

August 29, 2008 – American Red Cross chapters in the greater Bay Area have activated disaster response teams and Emergency Response Vehicles from the Bay Area to assist with preparations for Tropical Storm Gustav. The storm is poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane this weekend, and early next week could affect Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Volunteers from the Bay Area, Palo Alto Area, Santa Clara Valley and Sonoma-Mendocino Chapters are en-route to Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, where the Red Cross is staging personnel and supplies before landfall to assist with any necessary relief efforts in the threatened areas. The Red Cross is preparing to assist residents in the storm’s path with shelters, food and emotional support.

Approximately 40 volunteers and three Emergency Response Vehicles will be deployed from Bay Area counties this week and through the weekend. Volunteers will be serving by providing evacuated residents with a safe place to stay, food and counseling services both before and after the storm makes landfall.

National Red Cross Preparations for Tropical Storm Gustav
The Red Cross starts even before the storm makes landfall. As evacuation orders are given, the Red Cross will be ready with shelters, food and emotional support.

The Red Cross is moving hundreds of mobile feeding trucks into Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The organization is also moving more than 100,000 cots and blankets, tens of thousands of comfort kits and ready-to-eat meals into the coastal states. Red Cross workers began moving into the area on Thursday and will continue through the weekend. The Red Cross will be working to ensure people have safe shelter, food, comfort items and emotional support throughout the course of the storm. For more information on the national Red Cross response, please visit the Tropical Storm Gustav online newsroom.

Safe and Well Registration for Loved Ones in Affected Areas
Should evacuations occur, Red Cross volunteers will be working with residents in affected areas to register on the Red Cross Safe and Well Web site at www.redcross.org. Bay Area residents who are concerned about family members and friends in the affected area can search for information by entering the telephone number and address of their loved ones on the Web site.

How Bay Area Residents Can Help
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like Tropical Storm Gustav, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to the American Red Cross Bay Area at 85 Second St, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

Volunteer with the Red Cross
American Red Cross assistance is provided by volunteers who live and serve in their home communities. For the safety of our volunteers and the people we help, we only send trained disaster response volunteers into affected areas. If you are not a currently a registered Red Cross volunteer but would like to get trained to be able to help with future disaster responses both at home and nationally, your first step is to attend an upcoming orientation. For more information, please contact us at arcbav@usa.redcross.org, or (888) 229-8652, or fill out our online inquiry form.

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