Disaster Can Strike Anytime- Anywhere

It is 1:00am and the phone beside her bed rings. Janice may be deep in sleep by that time, but once she hears that tone she knows what is going on. There is a family in Allegany County who just lost their home to a fire or other disaster.

This time for Janice it was too close to home-literally. Just a few houses down the road she could see exactly what the dispatcher was talking about to her just moments before. As she pulled on her boots and slung on the American Red Cross vest she could see from her living room window the smoke in the dark, clear sky and the reds and white lights that was still flashing as the last bit of fire was coming under their control.

As she walked down the street to meet her neighbors, she thought she would never have to actually help someone that she knows. But that’s the thing with house fires- then can happen to anyone at any time.

She handed the families of the apartment building a Red Cross blanket-they were only in their night clothes- and talked with them to see what happened. She just shook her head when she heard it had to do with the electrical system in the building. As her neighbors talked, words like ‘destroyed,’ ‘lost everything,’ and ‘gone memories’ hung in the air like the stale smoke.

After a little while of just talking, Janice opened up her bag and talked with the families individually. She was able to provide them with the basics- food, clothing, and shelter for three days. She also gave them the basics in a comfort kit filled with a toothbrush, soap, washcloth, and other personal needs. She even had a stuffed animal if any of the children just needed a little friend. Janice was there giving them hope.

The next day, Janice met with the families again to go over a plan of what to do next. During the shock of the night, they were not thinking about what is going to happen next, just what is happening right now. Janice provided the family with a list of resources of where to look for a new home, how to contact insurance companies, how to recreate important documents like a birth certificate, and other information to get their life back to normal as it could.

Janice is a volunteer that takes time out of her day to help those in need at their most vulnerable time. The American Red Cross provides everything else to the families who are affected by a house fire or any disaster in Allegany County.

Each disaster averages $1000.00 per family to provide them with food, clothing, and shelter for three days. All of the services provided by the American Red Cross is an outright gift. This is made possible by the generous people in Allegany who give to the Allegany County United Way and the American Red Cross. Through donations and grants made possible by the Allegany County United Way we can provide assistance to the smallest family of one or two people, to the largest of eight or ten people without any trouble.

People like Janice go through several classes and spend countless hours in training to provide assistance to families when they need the Red Cross. Whether it is because of a house fire to a large blizzard that has Interstate 86 shut down forcing a shelter to be opened, Red Cross volunteers can and will be able to handle anything that Mother Nature throws at them.

The Red Cross is grateful for all of the respect that the community gives to them; from the local fire departments, to the hotels and motels willing to work with the Red Cross and of course the community members willing to support the Red Cross.