A field report from Pennsylvania following the flood

Greetings,

It’s now day 11 in our Pennsylvania flood deployment with the Red Cross and we’ve settled into a regular mobile feeding route in the mobile feeding truck (ERV).  We travel about 2 hours to get to our first scheduled stop and then serve between 100-150 meals.  Our route follows the river and some of the homes that were very close to the river bank (see pic).  We recognize our “regulars” and it’s fun to give and get hugs from people who really appreciate the help that the Red Cross provides.  Ah, this our reward.

When people see “Minneapolis, MN” on the side of our truck, they’re always surprised and grateful at how far we’ve traveled to serve them.

The Red Cross disaster relief effort in Pennsylvania has served more than 221,000 meals/snacks and it is now down to 4 open shelters.  We can see that people are slowly getting back on their feet.  Many of the original shelters were opened in schools and it causes some logistical problems with the school’s now regularly scheduled activities.  So after 3 weeks, those affected by the floods are encouraged to find alternate housing arrangements.

We expect to be released from the operation next week and look forward to coming home.

Take care and God bless,
Rick and Karen