By Mary Jo Blackwood, American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming Public Affairs
Recently, the American Red Cross launched an initiative called E3, which stands for: Every Shelter, Every Day and Every Need, to make sure that beyond normal supplies distributed to all shelters being set up, they can respond to special needs that a particular shelter might have.
During the Red Cross Disaster Response Operation in Florida to Hurricane Ian, they got a chance to put E3 into action. Volunteer Pete Dunn, who frequently deploys to disasters for the American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming, gave us some examples: “When we were setting up shelters for Ian and people were coming in, we had a critical shortage of diapers. So I was able to go to a local Walmart and purchase three cartloads of diapers to distribute to shelters needing them.”
He did the same thing when bottled water was in short supply, transporting water from the staging site to where it was needed. He says Ian is only about the third DR, or national disaster, where E3 has been employed. His involvement with the program had him moving all around Florida as the need arose. “I flew into Tampa, and then drove to Sarasota to handle E3 out of a warehouse there. Then it was back to Tampa to get transferred to E3 in Ft. Myers.”
He explained that normal Red Cross supply distribution was not always meeting the needs of specific shelters, so E3 helps prioritize needs for shelter clientele. So far, it has been implemented for three DR Level 4 disasters; and its outreach is limited to supplies that may run out or are in too short supply for the needs. He thinks going forward that even what is happening now with E3 will get fine-tuned so needed supplies are replaced as quickly as possible.
Dunn is uniquely qualified to handle this initiative because of his extensive volunteer experience in multiple areas of disaster response. He drives the ERV (emergency response vehicles), does logistics, damage assessment, mass care and serves as an interface between the Red Cross and government entities. Ian was his twelfth Red Cross deployment since 2015.
He’s on call 24/7 with five organizations, including Red Cross and Team Rubicon, another Red Cross disaster partner, for which he has done four deployments. His three children are grown and because of his flexible employment in law enforcement, he has been able to deploy as needed. When asked why he does so much for the Red Cross and others, his wife says: “Before we were married, as a naval aviator, he volunteered to go to Vietnam and flew over 300 close-air-support missions in support of the Navy’s riverine forces. Nothing he does surprises me now.”
Pete’s volunteer activity is based on his fervent belief that we are all here to serve. The American Red Cross and E3 are grateful recipients of that passion.