VOLUNTEERS DESPERATELY NEEDED
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
The Red Cross likes to bill itself as “neighbors helping neighbors,” but all too often in Columbia and Greene counties, the term neighbor assumes a fairly broad meaning.
The American Red Cross's Northeastern New York Chapter is in "desperate need"
of disaster volunteers in Columbia and Greene counties, spokeswoman Siobhan
Kent said this week. "We really try to have neighbors helping neighbors,” said Kent. "Right now, if there is someone in need in Columbia and Greene counties, the volunteers might be coming from Schenectady." |
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When fire leaves a house uninhabitable, Red Cross volunteers are often called upon to provide assistance to the family.
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The agency has fewer than twenty disaster volunteers in the two counties, with
about a dozen in Columbia County and only seven in Greene County. Overall, the agency provides service in eight counties in the region: Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Schoharie counties, as well as a portion of Saratoga County. The chapter boasts more than 500 volunteers—about half of which are disaster volunteers.
Disaster volunteers provide assistance to victims of all sorts of disasters—whether they are major natural disasters that effect many people, such as December’s ice storm, or more personal disasters, such as a house fire or broken water pipe, which make it necessary for an individual or a family to find alternative shelter for a night or longer. In the latter, a fire chief will ask 911 to contact the Red Cross, and volunteers will arrive at the scene bringing assistance to victims, whether that means finding shelter for victims or providing clothing and vouchers to a family displaced by a house fire.
Kent said volunteering is rewarding. Volunteers can see the direct benefit of the work they do to assist people in times of greatest need. "You can see it in their faces," she said.
The shortage of volunteers in Columbia and Greene counties not only means a
delay in providing services to the residents of the two counties, but it also taxes the other volunteers who drop what they are doing to help someone a moment's notice and then have to drive 20, 30, 40, or more miles to offer that assistance.
Training to become a disaster volunteer is provided free of charge and sessions are conducted frequently. "We can even schedule a special session in the area if there is a demand," Kent said.
For more information on volunteering, visit the Red Cross website or call 458-8111.
"Our goal is to make sure we have volunteers where we need them, and we need to do a better job of accomplishing that in Columbia and Greene counties," she said.
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