Castroville Woman Joins Red Cross Volunteers in Oklahoma

The Santa Cruz County Chapter sent five additional volunteers over the weekend to Oklahoma as the American Red Cross continues to provide people with have a safe place to stay, food to eat, cleaning supplies, health services, and emotional support.

Volunteers Timothy Epps and Michael Higuet of Santa Cruz, Kimberly Picard of Ben Lomond, Josefina Animas of Castroville and Allan Mayfield of Carmel Valley, left for Oklahoma over the weekend. They will join 28 other local volunteers who have already deployed to the area from the Gateway to the Golden State Region – 13 from the Bay Area Chapter, 10 from the Silicon Valley Chapter, and 5 from the Santa Cruz County Chapter.

As of Friday, the Red Cross has served more than 324,000 meals and snacks, many of them prepared by kitchens supported by the Southern Baptist Convention. Red Cross workers have distributed more than 74,000 relief items, and provided more than 15,400 health services and mental health contacts.

HOW PEOPLE CAN HELP
Those who want to help can make a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting www.redcross.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. The Red Cross Safe and Well website is also available.

People can access the site and let loved ones know where they are. There are several ways to register on Safe and Well, or search for a loved one. From a computer, visit redcross.org; from a smart phone, visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to be connected with one’s local Red Cross chapter.