Hurricane Sandy Update from a Chapter Volunteer

The Red Cross has mobilized the full resources of the organization to help people affected by Sandy. The entire fleet of response vehicles is activated and more than 5,400 disaster workers are supporting shelters, providing people with food and water and driving through neighborhoods to hand out food and supplies.

“This is an amazing deployment. It is huge. Aside from everything else, it covers so much geography. The entire state of New Jersey is effected. Some places not as much as others but almost everywhere to some extent. Some of it really bad. The numbers of volunteers in place is staggering. The entire ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) fleet nationwide has been activated. Here in New Jersey we currently have 130 of them, while in New York there are about 100 more with the rest of the 340 vehicle fleet spread around the northeast. There are literally thousands homeless and being fed by the Red Cross and sheltered by us. Our volunteers are everywhere and we are instant heroes. You go into a restaurant or buy gas and people walk up and thank us for being here. Every day I go to bed exhausted, but excited about what I can do in the morning. A great feeling. Something that not everyone gets to feel.” Stuart Abbey – Emergency Response Vehicle Manager – Capital Area Chapter