31 August 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Heavy rain and extreme winds sweep through Florida with what’s left of Hurricane Idalia. Members of the American Red Cross Kansas are providing disaster relief services to people impacted.
Keven Mann, Mark Roberts, and Linda Mueller are the three Kansans volunteering in the Sunshine State.
Mann is working in Dixie County alongside local management to navigate emergency operations. Roberts is working at the Red Cross headquarters in Tallahassee on transportation needs, and Mueller will be working with the mental health team to provide services to anyone in need.
Roberts says the transportation team is small.
“We have people in Maui, people in Washington and all over, so we actually only have six of us trying to manage a couple hundred cars,” he explained.
In total, there are about 400 Red Cross volunteers from around the country helping in Florida. However, there are areas that require more hands than they currently have on-site.
“We always need the shelter care workers. There’ll be probably … maybe 150 of those if we can get them to take care of shelters scattered around the state. Of course, transportation, we’re always short. But we always get by, but there’s so many things that people can do to help out. No matter what field they’re in, we’ve got a place for them,” added Roberts.
The volunteers are scheduled to stay for the next two weeks. They have the option to stay longer.