Calls pour in to local Red Cross

The Haiti earthquake that killed thousands on Tuesday has local Red Cross workers fielding calls in numbers that haven’t been seen since Hurricane Katrina.

“The phone rings nonstop,” said Jackie Horton, executive director for the Dakota Plains chapter of the American Red Cross. “There’s so much press coverage on a national scale that people just feel they need to help.”

Many of the calls, however, are from residents looking to travel to Haiti to assist with relief efforts, an area that most aren’t prepared for, Horton said.

The best thing concerned residents can do right now, she said, is make monetary donations.

As of late last week, the American Red Cross had already raised more than $4 million for relief efforts on the island. Some of those funds came from a system that allows cellular phone users to send a text message reading “Haiti” to 90999. Doing so means that $10 will be added to the user’s bill and donated to the American Red Cross.

“The response has been phenomenal,” Horton said. “The American public has a pretty giving heart.”

Money can also be donated online at www.redcross.org or sent to the local Red Cross with the word “Haiti” written in the memo line.

Horton said the Red Cross is not currently dispatching any volunteers, although the organization has dozens of disaster specialists in Haiti to assess damage and establish recovery operations.

However, Horton said there will be a need for trained volunteers in the future as the Red Cross prepares to respond to spring flooding in North and South Dakota.

“We’re already starting to look at the flooding that’s going to come to Dade and Brown Counties,” Horton said.

The best thing interested residents can do is start attending free training sessions offered by the Red Cross, Horton said.

The American Red Cross will host a disaster institute the week of Feb. 2-6 in Mitchell. Disaster training is also held the first Saturday of every month.

Tags: red cross, news, local, haiti