Local voluteers to help Hurricane Katrina victims
About three dozen people from Fayette and Greene counties have signed up to take part in local Red Cross efforts to help those who lost so much during Hurricane Katrina, according to an agency spokeswoman. Tami Aubele, communications director with the Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross, said Wednesday that 23 people showed up to begin an intensive three-day boot camp that recently started at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Eleven people will be trained at a Greene County session that starts next week, Aubele said.
Those people will be part of the Red Cross effort to find 800 people to serve as short-term volunteer relief workers in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, according to a press release.
The program is called Katrina 800, and the Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross is hopeful that residents of Fayette, Greene, Allegheny and Washington counties will come forward to give at least two weeks of their time to help in the hurricane-ravaged areas, Aubele said.
Through the campaign, volunteers undergo intensive training to prepare for their assignment. Volunteers learn about mass-feeding and bulk distribution of supplies, assistance in a Red Cross shelter and assessing disaster-caused damage to understand families’ future financial needs.
“The unprecedented size and scope of the disaster has led to unprecedented recruitment efforts from the American Red Cross,” the release stated.
Training is being conducted in the four counties, and while Aubele said the Allegheny County training sessions are filling up, it is important for people in Fayette and Greene to realize they have opportunities to be trained close to home.
After the training, Aubele said that the volunteers will have to fill out paperwork that gets entered into the Red Cross computer system. From there, the agency calls upon people to be deployed. The Red Cross is asking for a minimum two-week commitment, Aubele said, and there is not a timetable on when volunteers will be called.
“The need is going to be long-term, so we want to have volunteers ready to send when the need arises,” Aubele said.
The training also qualifies people to help with any local disaster.
The Red Cross considers volunteering for this program a “hardship assignment,” the press stated. That means that conditions such as water and power disruptions, limited food availability and the potential for extreme emotional distress most likely will exist.
In Fayette, training will be offered Oct. 17, 19 and 20 and Nov. 14, 16 and 17 at the American Red Cross, Fayette branch, at 108 Morgantown St., Uniontown.
In Greene County, training will be offered Sept. 26, 27 and 29; Oct. 10, 11 and 13 and Nov. 7, 8 and 10 at the Corner Cupboard Food Bank, 511 Rolling Meadows Road, Waynesburg.
Trainings each day run from 5-9 p.m.
For more information, call 1-888-217-8175, or register online at www.swpa.redcross.org
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