How can our community give back to others who have recently experienced similar hardship? Hear from two perspectives in Ideas & Voices on how you can make a difference in the lives of those still reeling from tragedy.
Laura Mercer, former Executive Director of Miami Valley Long Term Recovery Operations: You can play a part in helping others recover after disaster strikes
When the tornadoes struck, volunteers from across the nation swarmed in to help with immediate response and stayed to help us rebuild. These volunteers contributed over 118,000 hours of their time to response and recovery efforts (a value of $3.3 million). VOADs from around the county set up host sites in local churches and lived in our community while they helped us rebuild. In addition, hundreds of individual donors and organizations contributed over $2.2 million to buy materials and to support a wide range of recovery needs. Without this assistance and generosity our community would still be devastated. This is how disaster recovery works – we are all interdependent and you can play a part in helping others recover.
Lynne Gump, Executive Director of the American Red Cross Miami Valley Chapter: If you want to help, roll up your sleeve
A lesser-known impact of Hurricane Ian’s wrath is the disruption of the nation’s blood supply. Dangerous weather conditions cancel blood drives leaving thousands of blood and platelet donations going uncollected. Last week, the Red Cross sent several hundred blood products to Florida to ensure patients continue to have access to lifesaving blood. Some of those blood units came from our Columbus processing center which processes the blood collected here in the Miami Valley. The Red Cross operates a national inventory system that allows us to move blood when it’s needed, where it’s needed.