The following message was passed along to me from Tessa Burns, Disaster Manager, Marin County
American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter:
“The State of Louisiana does not have sufficient shelter staff and many residents are still living in vulnerable FEMA trailers. The Red Cross is looking for volunteers to serve at least two-weeks (14-days) to provide assistance in shelters in the state of Louisiana between the dates of August 26 – October 15, 2006 in the event of a hurricane. We will provide FREE training for these shelter teams, and they can also continue with the Red Cross to be deployed on other disasters if they choose. In addition to helping Louisiana, this is also an opportunity to further build our sheltering capacity in Fairfax and Marin County in the event of a local disaster. The Red Cross will cover living expenses, training, and travel for deployed shelter teams.
If interested, people can go to our website at www.redcrossbayarea.org and click on the Louisiana Shelter Team Initiative icon to sign up for a training. We are looking for shelter workers, shelter supervisors and health associates. No prior sheltering experience is necessary, as we'll provide the training.”
