Red Cross Responds to Everyday Disasters while Sandy Relief Continues

By Julie Krizen

Although the American Red Cross is in the midst of its Superstorm Sandy response, the largest U.S. disaster response in five years, “routine” disasters continue to occur within the Greater New York Red Cross region.

“While phones are still ringing for Hurricane Sandy, we’re also handling our usual seven to eight disasters a day across New York City, Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley, Westchester County and Greenwich, Conn,” said Takia Chandler, Greater New York Red Cross emergency communications dispatcher. “We’re multi-tasking. Our emergency communications center runs 365 days, 24 hours a day. As dispatchers we take the information and send out a response unit.”

Red Cross volunteer Jerry Rothstein is one of those responders always ready to answer the call for help, providing assistance for house and apartment fires, building collapses and more.

“Some apartment fires involve large numbers of families,” said Rothstein, “and generally speaking, people have no idea what services the Red Cross provides.”

Rothstein said that when families learn that the Red Cross will give them temporary housing and emergency funds for lost food and clothing, they’re usually surprised and happy.

“Most are just delighted that someone has come out to help them.”

Since Sandy made landfall, the Greater New York Red Cross has assisted more than 500 households affected by everyday disasters like home fires, providing hope, comfort, and support to those affected. Volunteers and donations make this possible. To get help or to help, call 1-877-REDCROSS or go to www.nyredcross.org.

You Guys Make Me So Happy

Most days Inwood Community Center is a place where seniors come to mingle and children come to play. On Oct. 29 it quickly morphed into a much-needed place of refuge. Nine people in total were able to find sanctuary and comfort in the Red Cross supported shelter. One woman, 83-year-old Marguerte Hill, was there for three days due to a power outage.

Mrs. Hill, known to the community as “Mother Hill,” was there supporting her friends as they gathered clothing from the center. A fixture in the neighborhood, Mother Hill said the church that her late husband established 69 years ago had lost power and was forced to cancel most of its anniversary plans scheduled for this week.

Despite her troubles, Mother Hill stayed positive, saying the kosher food delivered by the Red Cross to the Community Center was wonderful and greatly appreciated by the neighborhood it was then delivered to, and that the Red Cross cots and blankets made her stay there comfortable.

Mrs. Hill’s infectious laughter and amazing attitude lit up everyone around her. Upon exiting with cane in hand Mother Hill exclaimed, “You guys make me so happy I could just run!”

In the midst of one of the biggest operations the American Red Cross has ever put on, to hear just one voice stand up and say we made a difference makes the days without sleep and time away from loved ones worth it.

Ohio Town Youngsters Make Beautiful Music in Manhattan for the Red Cross

After severe thunderstorms and tornadoes devastated Columbus Grove, a town of 2,500 in central Ohio, earlier this year, residents who had received help from around the country—by way of the American Red Cross—wanted to “pass it forward” to those impacted by Superstorm Sandy.

The town’s musical ambassadors delivered that generosity. Before performing a concert in The Atrium at 590 Madison Ave. in New York City, the school’s music department presented a check for $4,250 to the American Red Cross disaster relief fund.

Every other year, the Columbus Grove band and choir, with a total of about 140 teenagers, travels out of state to perform. This year’s field trip to New York City was planned long before Sandy struck.

After seeing the destruction caused by Sandy in this area, the band’s booster club decided to dedicate any extra dollars to the Red Cross. The fundraising then became community-wide, with churches taking special donations and service clubs chipping in. In the end, the donation totaled almost $2 for every adult and child in Columbus Grove.

Chaperone Theresa Murray, whose daughter plays flute and piccolo in the band, has been involved with the fundraising for these trips before. She’s helped with sub sandwich sales, a home-and-garden event and a rock-a-thon when her older children were in the band.

This time, she said, “The response was more than we expected.”

“We hope this is good learning experience for the kids,” added Choir Director Carla Wynak, “that they’ll understand what it means to help others in need.”

After receiving an ovation from Red Crossers for their generosity, the kids turned the tables and applauded the Red Cross.

I spent my birthday in New York

Michael Clark spent his 22nd birthday giving rather than receiving.

An American Red Cross volunteer from Eureka, Calif., Clark came all the way across the country to help deliver meals to people impacted by Superstorm Sandy.

Every day—including his birthday, Nov. 11—he would show up first thing in the morning at a field kitchen in Deer Park, N.Y., to load the insulated containers that hold hot food prepared by members of the Southern Baptist Convention.

With directions from his Red Cross dispatcher, he and his crew would head for a stricken Long Island neighborhood, where the familiar red and white truck would deliver food and hope to those trying to put their lives back together.

Back home, Clark works for a Walmart store. When he learned that the Red Cross needed feeding truck drivers, he approached his store manager, who “made it happen” to let Clark go to New York to help others.

Clark prides himself in delivering not only meals, but a laugh to residents in need and co-workers alike.

New York Volunteer Passionate About Helping People

“If you try it just one day, you’d understand.”

That’s how 28-year-old Zullyvette Feliciano describes volunteering with the American Red Cross.

“Most of my friends don’t volunteer at all and they don’t understand,” she said. “But when you see the appreciation in someone’s face that you’ve helped, it’s out of this world.”

Feliciano, who works full time at a New York hospital, has been a volunteer with the Greater New York Red Cross region for more than two years. Her dedication to public service has even driven her to use her own vacation time to help out in times of disaster.

“I went to Catholic school growing up and always had volunteer projects, so it’s always been a part of me,” Feliciano said. “If you have the ability to help, you should.”

As a volunteer with the Greater New York emergency response team, Feliciano helps people affected by everyday disasters like house fires, providing them with food, clothing, lodging, emotional support and other assistance as needed.

“Everyone is always so warm and grateful for what we do,” she said.

When Superstorm Sandy made landfall, Feliciano navigated her way from her home in the Bronx to regional headquarters in Manhattan to help any way she could. Her dedication prompted her to spend the night on a cot in an empty office cubicle on the building’s fourth floor, along with dozens of other Red Cross volunteers. She awoke the next day to continue volunteering.

As part of a Red Cross team, Feliciano began conducting damage assessments in some of the hardest-hit areas. She also drove a mobile feeding truck through the streets of the Rockaways, distributing food to those who had lost their homes.
“Everyone was so happy to see us,” she said.

Feliciano even pitched in and answered phone calls in the emergency communications center at Greater New York headquarters in the weeks following Sandy. At the time, the center was receiving thousands of calls each day.

Feliciano earned her master’s degree in environmental and occupational health sciences in 2009. Today, she is back at her full-time job, but her passion for helping brings her back to the Red Cross almost every Saturday, where she continues to assist those impacted by everyday disasters like house fires.

“I get way more back than what I give,” Feliciano said.

Volunteer Profile: Mike Hoplight

By Robert W. Wallace

Mike Hoplight is a super volunteer for the American Red Cross. So far this year he has been deployed for duty away from his Sanborn, New York, home for a total of 159 days. Currently, he is the Site Manager for the large distribution center on Long Island that provides bulk supplies for persons affected by Hurricane Sandy. He has been in charge of this site for the past 29 days, having arrived well in advance of the storm to receive and be ready to supply needed items for the storm victims.

“I’ve been deploying all my life for various operations, and I’ll be here until this operation is done,” said Hoplight, “but I would like to get home to be with my wife and daughters for Christmas.”

Hoplight is retired from the United States Army and volunteers extensively for the Red Cross: He serves as the Sheltering Lead for the state of New York and also does a great deal of volunteering for Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces. Just prior to deploying in support of Hurricane Sandy, Hoplight was in Afghanistan working for the Red Cross.

His current mission involves running the bulk distribution site and coordinating community organizations involved in the recovery effort, such as churches, food pantries, community centers, and in one case, even a home for orphan children. Approximately 100 volunteers are involved in the operation, mostly Red Cross workers, but also other volunteers, including members of the Teamsters Union.

The communities served by the distribution site include, Bay Shore, Lindenhurst, Mastic Beach, Babylon and West Islip New York. Bulk items provided include clean-up kits, bleach, sponges, masks, trash bags, baby food and formula, diapers, wipes, and paper towels.

CERTain Partners

Among a sea of red-clothed volunteers handing out comfort and clean-up kits on Thanksgiving Day in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, one man stood out. In his bright green vest, Devin Cohen, chief of the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), spent the holiday helping with the Red Cross relief effort, now in its fourth week.

Shortly after Sandy made landfall on Oct.29, Cohen managing a shelter for individuals with function and access needs. Almost three weeks later, he was still responding, this time in one of the hardest hit areas of Brooklyn, where scattered power outages still affect some brownstones, apartment buildings and local businesses.

“These days, it’s block to block,” Cohen said. “I was supposed to spend the day with my family, but we got an email asking us to send teams to help distribute food and supplies, so here I am.”

Since the response began weeks ago, the Red Cross—in partnership with several local and national organizations—has distributed almost four million relief items, including cold weather kits and clean-up supplies. In New York alone last weekend, the Red Cross handed out more than 1.4 million items to people in need.

In the days and weeks following major disasters, it’s not uncommon to see CERT teams working hand-in-hand with Red Cross volunteers. More than 1,100 communities across the United States have local CERT groups, which aim to harness the power of local citizens to support first responders during emergencies. Local CERT volunteers have been trained to help bolster communities’ safety, security and preparedness in the face of natural disasters, among other emergencies.