Tag: Minnesota

Overwhelming Response Includes the Red Cross

Story and photos by Andrea Bredow, Red Cross Volunteer

Scott Webber & Mary Ellen Fox, volunteers on the sand bagging line in Hastings, Minnesota. Photo credit: Andrea Bredow/American Red Cross

It was a chilly 17 degrees on Saturday morning, but the cold spring air and piles of snow did not stop the Hastings, Minnesota, community from banding together to fight the looming Mississippi River waters.

An estimated 700 volunteers spent Saturday sandbagging homes along the river.  The American Red Cross Twin Cities Chapter volunteers were there as well. The Red Cross feeding vehicle, also know as the ERV, was on hand to provide hot beverages and snacks to keep volunteers warm and energized.

Red Cross volunteers served coffee, hot chocolate, & snacks to people sand bagging in Hastings, Minnesota. Photo credit: Andrea Bredow/American Red Cross

The call for volunteers went out early in the week and hundreds responded with shovel in hand.  Family’s worked filling bags, youth groups stood in the “bucket line” delivering sandbags to homes and Scott Webber even showed up on his birthday to help.

“This is what the city of Hastings does. We help each other,” said Webber.

Webber and a hundred other volunteers were sent to surround Lloyd Fanum’s river side home with sandbags.  Fanum has lived on the river for 30 years and is always overwhelmed by the communities outpouring of help.

“The boys and girls giving their weekend to help me is overwhelming!  I can’t thank them enough,” said Fanum.

Homeowner Lloyd Fanum is interviewed about the outpouring of help to save his home from the impending flood. Photo credit: Andrea Bredow/American Red Cross

The army of volunteers turned out 20,000 sandbags in only four hours!

“When the neighbors are in trouble, we are ready to reach out and help,” said Patrick Walker, one of the sand bagging organizers.

Walker says they are ready to gear up the sandbagging operation at any time.  If more homes along the river need help, the Hastings community will be there.

Click here to learn more about Red Cross services and opportunities.

Busy Day Two At A Red Cross Shelter

By Cathryn Kennedy, Red Cross Volunteer, Twin Cities Area Chapter

Riley, 2, gets a snack with help from Red Cross volunteer Bonnie Reyers at the Bloomington shelter. Riley and his mother escaped the apartment fire early Tuesday morning. Photo credit: Cathryn Kennedy/American Red Cross

By 10 a.m. the list of tasks was getting long. Shelter Manager Ruth Talford needed to order pizzas for lunch, arrange transportation to off-site showers, and set up two family meeting rooms, including one for discussing financial assistance and another for providing stress relief and counseling. Later in the afternoon, Talford would need to help families get to where they could request government emergency assistance funds.

Meanwhile families in the shelter were busy, too.

Grandmother Eva Dale needed emergency medical care for care of her feet, but first she had to prepare granddaughter Kiara for kindergarten. That meant finding some school clothes and transportation to Kiara’s elementary school.

Red Cross volunteers sprung into action and within 15 minutes Kiara was decked out in a school outfit and winter coat, but she still needed shoes.  So did her sister, Kiana, as well as Grandmother Eva.  Shoes were in short supply so one volunteer was given names of two nearby neighbors who had offered to help.

School bus driver Tim Hamm stopped by the shelter to check on one of his students. Hamm offered to help and later dropped off diapers for younger children. Photo credit: Cathryn Kennedy/American Red Cross
School bus driver Tim Hamm stopped by the shelter to check on one of his students. Hamm offered to help and later dropped off diapers for younger children. Photo credit: Cathryn Kennedy/American Red Cross

The night of the fire Eva was caring for her granddaughters, while their mother was in Iowa. Eva woke up in the night smelling smoke and when she opened the window for ventilation, she saw flames leaping out of a neighbor’s apartment and a parent yelling for help. She awoke her granddaughters and dropped them out the window to waiting rescue workers before jumping out herself. With no time to get shoes, Eva suffered frostbite, and getting her to a doctor was added to the shelter manager’s list urgent things to do.

Meanwhile, Bloomington school bus driver Tim Hamm, who had Kiara on his route, stopped by to see if she was all right. Asking how he could help, he offered to purchase some diapers for a couple of younger children.

Two-year-old Riley and his mother were waiting for a cab to take him to day care, and other families were headed out to go buy new clothes with Red Cross vouchers.

Before noon nine pizzas arrived and after some nourishment everyone went back to work helping families get lives back in order after a fire disaster.

Red Cross Responds On Sub-Zero Minnesota Morning

By Red Cross Volunteers Dave Schoeneck and Grace Thompson

When fire struck an apartment building on a recent sub-zero morning in Minnesota, residents had little time to do more than escape. Some leaped from second- and third-story windows while others dropped their children into the arms of first responders.

Eleven apartments suffered extensive damage, displacing more than 30 people. Within minutes, Twin Cities Red Cross volunteers responded to assist them.

Red Cross Comfort Kit
A simple Red Cross Comfort Kit, which includes shampoo, soap, and other essential personal care items, helps people with immediate disaster relief. Photo credit: Grace Thompson/American Red Cross

“Some people fled the burning building in nothing more than shorts,” said Anne Florenzano, a Red Cross volunteer who arrived on the scene early Tuesday.

Heated buses provided initial refuge while residents wondered where they’d sleep that night. By 10:30 AM, the Red Cross had opened a shelter offering a safe and warm place for families to sleep and make plans for rebuilding lives torn apart by disaster.

Kiara Faalafula, a six year-old girl living with her grandmother, was dropped from the second story window because smoke filled the halls made escape by stairs impossible. A police officer caught the kindergartener and took her to a heated bus where she was given a blanket, and later a coat.

Melvin Saballos, 31, who also lived on the second floor, was woken by his father about 5:45 AM. The hall was so filled with smoke that the only exit was through a window.

Melvin, 31, escaped the burning building on a ladder and later sought refuge in a Red Cross shelter. Photo credit: Grace Thompson/American Red Cross

“The Red Cross has been very attentive to the needs of the people, making sure that nobody panics,” said Saballos. “The Red Cross has been incredibly helpful. We are warm and safe.”

Britney Godfrey and Roderick Diggins, along with their daughter, MaKayla, and Roderick’s sister, Ladietra Diggins and her son, Tre’von Diggans, lived in a third floor apartment.

MaKayla, 3, was dropped from a third-story apartment window and caught by a police officer. Here, she's getting clean socks and pants (that are way too big for her). Photo credit: Grace Thompson/American Red Cross

Britney woke up, smelled smoke, and tried to get everyone out, but the smoke-filled hallway was impassible. Godfrey realized that the window was the only way out. After dropping the children into the arms of first responders, the three adults then jumped to save their own lives. All are grateful for the Red Cross help they’ve received.

Since January 1, The Twin Cities Red Cross has responded to 80 fire disasters, providing comfort and other immediate disaster relief for more than 250 people. More than 75 Red Cross volunteers have assisted these families.

Residents affected by the Bloomington apartment fire or other recent disasters can call (612) 871-7676 for more information about the Red Cross and disaster relief services.

Early Morning at a Red Cross Shelter

By Mark Smith, Disaster Public Affairs Volunteer, American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter, October 21, 2010

Mozell, 8, and Zyiomna, 2

The Blaisdell Avenue fire in Minneapolis displaced more than 90 people, forcing several dozen to stay overnight in a Red Cross shelter.

Two of them were Mozell, 8, and his sister Zyiomna, 2.

Mozell started his day out by keeping an eye on his little sister, letting mom get a little extra sleep after a long night.

Zyiomna

Being the watchful brother, he helped his sister get a plate of food for breakfast and sat with her as she ate her breakfast.

After I took his picture, Mozell asked to use the camera and, with my help, he was able to take pictures of his sister.

Of course little sister, seeing what big brother was doing, wanted to review the picture and was excited to see herself and her brother on the camera.

Mozell

Zyiomna  insisted in taking his picture as he had taken hers.

With a little help, she was able to snap the shot of her brother and push the buttons to take a look at her efforts.

The Red Cross shelter was a safe and warm place for families to stay.

The Red Cross will continue providing immediate recovery assistance, such as shelter, food, clothing, and emotional support, to the families affected by this disaster.

Red Cross Recognition

Henry Nyenteah (left) receives an American Red Cross Certificate of Recognition from Red Crosser Jason Viana. Photo courtesy of Dakota Communities

In September, the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter awarded its Certificate of Recognition to two staff with Dakota Communities, a non-profit in Eagan, Minnesota, that provides services for people with disabilities. Certificates of Recognition were given to both Maureen Desmond and Henry Nyenteah for using lifesaving training during two separate choking incidents.

In each case, Red Cross training enabled them to perform extraordinary personal actions that helped save the life of someone in their care.

To learn more about Red Cross services and training, please visit www.redcrosstc.org.

Red Cross Disaster Dispatcher: Sopheak Srun

Red Cross Dispatchers Help Get Disaster Response Off the Ground

by Jason Viana, Red Cross Staff, Twin Cities Area Chapter

Sopheak Srun is a volunteer disaster response dispatcher for the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter. Photo provided by Sopheak Srun.

You won’t see them in pictures, they don’t grab headlines, and most of those they help don’t even know they exist.  Yet without Disaster Action Team (DAT) dispatchers, the Red Cross disaster response would have a hard time getting off the ground.  While they may never set foot on the scene, the decisions they make and the moves they orchestrate are key to almost every Red Cross disaster response.

Twenty six-year-old Sopheak Srun recently joined the group of unsung DAT heroes as he chose to become a DAT dispatcher in the fall.  Srun spends the majority of his days working as a microbiologist and engineer at his family’s medical device assembly and packaging company in Bloomington and says he really enjoys his work as a Red Cross volunteer.  The Red Cross first crossed Srun’s radar while completing his graduate work in St. Louis and once he returned to the Twin Cities he completed training and became a DAT volunteer.

Having responded to numerous local disasters over the last two years as a DAT member, Srun already had a good understanding of the importance of dispatchers in disaster response.  However, after having become a dispatcher himself, he quickly gained a deeper appreciation of the role he now plays in coordinating Red Cross efforts.

As Srun coordinated the disaster response efforts in response to a recent house fire in St. Paul, Srun not only consoled a family who had just lost a child, but also connected them with all of the help and resources that the Red Cross had to offer.  The full-time microbiologist quickly and compassionately prepared each of the DAT members for what they were about to face and ensured that all of the proper team members were selected to respond.

“It was really sad, “Srun recalled.  “They had just lost their child and they were pretty incoherent.  I just tried to stay calm and get them all the help I could.”

Srun has learned since taking on the role of dispatcher that the key to the position is about more than calling other volunteers and passing along information, it’s really about judgment and leadership.  “We are the voice of the Red Cross to these people…we are pivotal in the response because we coordinate nearly everything,” said Srun as he looked back on his first six months as a dispatcher.  “After hours it’s just us.”

The thought of serving as a DAT dispatcher had crossed Srun’s mind on several occasions, but an email appeal from local disaster coordinator Ruth Talford convinced him to take the next step.  “It seemed like a logical extension to the work I was already doing, “Srun said.  “With my experience as a DAT first-responder I felt like I was ready for a leadership role.”

Srun has embraced his new role and found that he really enjoys coordinating the disaster response efforts of the DAT volunteers.  While the role of dispatcher has proven demanding, Srun said it also comes with its perks.  “It’s nice, I don’t really have to get up and leave in the middle of the night to actually help someone…I can do it from home.”  The smile was obvious in Srun’s voice as he described the convenience of being able to do a great deal of dispatching right from the palm of his hand…with his IPhone.

Srun says that all you really need is an internet connection, a telephone, access to the DAT list and the willingness to help people during exceptionally difficult times.  “The situations are all pretty heavy.  These people have usually lost their homes and most of their possessions.”   Srun stated matter of factly.  “But that’s the nature of our work.  I am just glad we are there to help.”

Disaster Response, Farmington, MN

"She wanted to do something."
A future Red Crosser