Local Red Crossers Still Helping After Tornadoes

I spoke with Towson resident and Red Cross volunteer Pat Shaw May 3 while she was waiting for a flight to Alabama.

That morning Shaw completed her Red Cross volunteer assignment in North Carolina that began just after massive tornadoes destroyed homes across the Tar Heel state on April 16.

Shaw, who is retired, is now going to Alabama, where she will join six other volunteers who are providing disaster relief in that state. 

“I love to go out there and be with the people and know we’re helping them,” Shaw said. “I like letting them know there is still purpose in their lives.”

With more than 300 people dead and seemingly endless property damage, it’s understandable why some people lose hope without encouragement from caring people like Shaw and other Red Crossers.

In Alabama, Shaw will be working in a shelter but in North Carolina she was part of team that went door-to-door assessing people’s needs and offering emotional support as well as tangible assistance. She said it is the simple things that people are most grateful for.  

“They are in need of food, clothing and bedding. But we have also given people baby cribs and diapers,” Shaw said. “Some people cried. They say they are so glad that the Red Cross is here. I know I can depend on them.” 

Shaw has been a Red Cross volunteer for nine years and says she has responded to too many disasters to count. Just in Central Maryland, there are three disasters every day—usually single-family home fires.

Because the Red Cross is always there when needed, many people take this organization for granted and assume it is a part of the government. In fact, the Red Cross does not receive government funding.

It’s the support that comes from Shaw’s neighbors here in Maryland that makes it possible for her and others to do this work. A donation as small as six dollars can buy a blanket for someone sleeping in a shelter. Ten dollars pays for a hot meal. And $150 makes it possible for the Red Cross to shelter and feed a family of four for a day.   

Two other local Red Cross volunteers are also heading south today. Lilyan Jarmer from Severn and Johnny Hatten from Parkville are en route from Maryland with a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle.

Hatten, who works for the Maryland Department of Human Resources, says those who work in these vehicles are often “the eyes and ears” of the Red Cross because they are among the first to be allowed into the hardest hit neighborhoods. 

For more about what the Red Cross is doing in Baltimore County and the rest of Central Maryland, visit www.redcross-cmd.org.