BROKEN BOW – The dog days of summer are officially underway, and now more than ever the Red Cross could use a hand in keeping residents safe and healthy through the heat, according to Red Cross Communications Director Josh Murray.
“While many of us are taking a summer break, a summer vacation, need does not take a break.”
Murray, in continuing to encourage residents to donate blood, says that this August the Red Cross is showing its donors thanks in quite an enticing way. “Right now, with gas prices the way they are, we have an opportunity to give three people free gas for a year.”
Additionally, the Red Cross has been providing ongoing disaster relief efforts, with particular emphasis on the ongoing flooding in Kentucky. Murray says that Nebraskans have played no small part in the Red Cross’s aid for the state.
“The Red Cross has a big operation underway there to help those people who have been displaced, and that includes folks from this area. At this point, we’ve got four volunteers from Nebraska who are either there or headed there, with a good possibility that more will be heading that way in the coming days.”
Murray says the volunteers are performing a variety of crucial tasks in the healing effort. “They’re going down there to help work in the shelters, help get meals and relief supplies distributed, setting up casework with people to get them back on the road to recovery.”
The need for volunteers’ readiness is perpetual, as natural disasters happen everywhere, not just in news headlines. “We’ve got wildfires in California, and we know this is the time of year we see hurricanes. We always have a need for more volunteers to be able to deploy and to help when these disasters happen.”
Information about volunteering with the Red Cross, or help finding a local blood drive this month, can be found here.
