RICHMOND, Va. -- When it comes to emergency aid during Hurricane season, the Virginia Red Cross doesn’t get ready — it stays ready.
“Every minute that someone has to wait for the Red Cross or another relief agency is a minute too long,” said Virginia Red Cross Communication Director Jonathan McNamara. “That’s why our goal is to mobilize long before an event ever occurs."
That call to help has been even more apparent in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which has caused hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage as the storm swept across six states, including the southwest region of Virginia.
McNamara said keeping a steady supply ready has been crucial to make sure potentially life-saving services aren’t delayed.
“Hurricane preparedness is a 365 operation for us, and what that means is we have to never stop recruiting volunteers, training new people collecting supplies, speaking to donors in the community about the important role that they play in helping the Red Cross make sure that we have these materials and the people ready to mobilize when the community calls,” McNamara said.
McNamara says about 85 volunteers are currently deployed to the southwest areas of the state in addition to the Carolinas and Florida. As those relief operations continue, he expects the nonprofit's volunteer efforts to increase significantly with the threat of another potentially catastrophic hurricane in Milton, barreling toward Florida.
“Over 85 volunteers from the Commonwealth of Virginia engaged in these operations, delivering hot meals, mental health support, supporting shelters,” McNamara said. “That number is only going to grow and that’s why that consistent effort to be ready is so vital to make sure communities don’t have to wait.”
At the Virginia Red Cross Headquarters in Henrico, supplies are constantly flowing in and out. The nonprofit has hundreds of buildings which run a network of supply operations to get help to the regions hurting most.
Most of the supplies at the Henrico location have been sent to the Southwest. According to McNamara the inventory system the Virginia Red Cross keeps in its warehouse at its headquarters is the same as the other warehouses across the country in an effort to reduce the time it takes to get materials out.
“There’s over 2000 Red Crossers currently engaged in responding to hurricanes, whether it's hurricane Helene or the next storm that is about to come,” McNamara said. "Is that a challenge for us? Yes, it's always a challenge, but the beauty of it, however, is that these type of conversations, the images that people are seeing everyday, are leading to new people calling the Red Cross, new people emailing us asking to help."
While the nonprofit is in need of volunteers ready to be deployed to the affected areas, local areas are also in need of support. McNamara said many of the volunteers also drive blood and platelet donation to area hospitals and act as personnel for its local Disaster Relief & Recovery.
“We have many different positions, whether those are deployable positions for the Red Cross or are positions based here in Richmond where you can help,” McNamara said.
People are also being called on to support the Red Cross by donating blood and platelets. McNamara says hundreds of blood drives have been canceled as a result of the storms and additional drives will be cancelled in the coming days.
“We feel that here in Virginia with the ripple effect on our national blood supply,” McNamara said. "It not only strengthens our blood supply here in the community, it also strengthens it across the nation.”
To that end, McNamara said one obstacle the Red Cross and many other non-profits and federal agencies have faced since relief efforts began is combating the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation.
The American Red Cross recently took to social media to dispel rumors accusing the organization of disposing of donated supplies, not being present in affected areas, taking over shelters and other disinformation. They are discouraging people acting in bad faith from continuing to spread disinformation because it could disrupt efforts to get people the help they need.
“That trust is essential to us being able to help people during the most challenging times of their lives and we’re hoping that people who have questions will reach out to the Red Cross,” McNamara said.
Find more information about how to support the Red Cross' efforts here.
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