The American Red Cross of Colorado & Wyoming responds to calls for assistance, on average, twice a day across the region. Of the 147 people helped, at least 46 were children under the age of 18 including several infants. 20 of those assisted were age 60 or older. February is already off to a busy start with more than 14 calls for emergency assistance; help given to 43 people in the first 5 days of the month.
Volunteers, all across the region, give up their free time to make this amount of help in their communities possible.
Breakdown of the CO & WY 87 county service area:
Mile High Chapter (MHC): 49 individuals received aid. The MHC response area includes 10 counties in the Denver Metro area. Follow @RedCrossDenver for real time updates.
Southeastern Colorado Chapter (SoCO): 15 individuals received aid. The SoCO response area includes 16 counties. Follow @PPRedCross for real time updates.
Northern Colorado Chapter (NoCO): 34 individuals received aid. The NoCO response area includes 11 counties. Follow @NoCORedCross for real time updates.
Western Colorado Chapter (WeCO): 18 individuals received aid. The WeCo response area covers 27 counties, serving all of western Colorado and the San Luis Valley. Follow @WCoRedCross for real time updates.
Wyoming Chapter: 31 individuals received aid. The Wyoming Chapter response area covers all 23 counties that make up the state of Wyoming. Follow @WyoRedCross for real time updates.
The families and individuals were provided a place to stay, money for clothes, food and medicine. Along with providing casework for the residents in a quick and efficient time frame, Red Cross volunteers will continue to provide support to these families going forward, by doing follow up work to ensure all needs are met and the individuals have a clear path to recovery from this personal disaster.
Volunteers make this level of response happen on a regular basis, in addition to all the other amazing things our volunteers do every day. Keep reading to learn more:
Upcoming Disaster Training
We will be facilitating a number of training’s that can help you qualify to respond to disasters. Some of the training’s include:
-Logistics: An Overview, February 11th
-Sheltering Fundamentals, February 11th
-Psychological First Aid, February 18th
-Concept of Operations, February 25th
Find out more about the training and register to attend or if you have any questions, please contact Disaster Program Specialist Dennis Hughes at dennis.hughes@redcross.org.
Restoring Family Links Training Institute, March 13-15
Restoring Family Links (RFL) works to reconnect families separated internationally due to armed conflict, disaster, migration or other humanitarian crises. Caseworkers work locally and through the national RFL Helpline to help clients initiate searches for loved ones and to help search within the local communities for those being sought by relatives overseas.
The American Red Cross will host a training institutefrom Monday, March 13th – Thursday, March 16th. The institute will cover topics such as RFL Casework, conducting outreach to local refugee and migrant communities, identifying RFL needs following a disaster, and conducting RFL casework through the new national RFL Helpline.
*Volunteer opportunities within Restoring Family Links may be available for those that meet training and other requirements.
Please contact International Services Manager Tim Bothe at tim.bothe2@redcross.org, with any questions.
Some of the Opportunities to support our mission are listed below. For information about becoming a Red Cross Volunteer or to sign up for one of the events please visit us online www.redcross.org/volunteer
Mass Care Workday – Mile High Area
Date: Saturday Feb 11, 2017
Description: Every 2nd Saturday of the month our volunteers of the Red Cross participate in a workday to ensure all Mass Care supplies are Red Cross Ready.
Pillowcase Facilitator Training – Western Colorado
Date: Friday Feb 17, 2017
– Air Force Reserves – Yellow Ribbon
Date: Saturday Feb 18, 2017
Time: 11:30 AM – 04:00 PM
Location: Denver (Exact TBA)
Description: Staff an info table and distribute info about Red Cross services and programs.
Home Fire Campaign – Englewood
Date: Saturday Feb 18, 2017
Time: 08:00 AM – 02:00 PM
Description: Home Fire Campaign is a service that we provide communities in greatest need of home fire safety education. We go door-to-door in communities to provide education on home fire safety and install free smoke alarms for residents.
Mesa County Safety Fair – Western Colorado
Date: Thursday & Friday, Feb 23-24, 2017
Red Cross Training Academy – Southeastern Colorado
Date: March 3-5, 2017