00:00Grace, we would like to get an update on the latest on how the American Red Cross is preparing for Milton.
00:06Yes, so for the past week the Red Cross have been providing support for two major storms,
00:11and now as Milton is getting closer, the Red Cross have pre-positioned multiple supplies
00:16to make sure that everything that we need to respond to this storm is available. Not only
00:21have we pre-positioned the workforce, we have pre-positioned water, meals, we've also pre-positioned
00:28blood products to make sure that the hospitals have the supplies that they need.
00:33And a lot of folks at home might be miles away from Florida, or hundreds of miles away from
00:38Florida. How should these folks help? It's very important for people to understand this is a
00:44catastrophic disaster, and any help is needed at this time. So there's three simple ways people
00:50can help. Number one, you can make a financial donation to redcross.org. Number two, if you're
00:56outside of the Florida area, please make an appointment to donate blood. We have to make
01:00sure that we have the inventory that we might need for weeks ahead. And join the Red Cross,
01:05become a volunteer, visit redcross.org, and sign up to be part of this mission, and for you to be
01:11part of what's happening, and providing support to people who need it the most in the hardest of
01:15times. Now you've mentioned that staff and volunteers. How do you mobilize them in a
01:20storm like this, keeping them safe, but also making sure they are able to reach the hardest
01:24hit locations? I think that's the power of the Red Cross, right? We're able to mobilize
01:31volunteers and team members from all over the United States and Puerto Rico as well. I joined
01:36the mission yesterday. I came from Puerto Rico myself to join the team that is going to be
01:42providing support in the shelters. It's going to be distributing meals. And a lot of our volunteers
01:47have been training way before the storm. They take multiple trainings in the task that they're going
01:52to be delivering here. And, you know, they take pride of the work that they do. They are ready
01:58for this type of disasters, whether they are at a shelter providing comfort and a safe place for
02:03people to stay, or whether they're ready to go out when it's safe in emergency response vehicles to
02:09provide meals, and provide water, and provide cleaning kits that are going to be so crucial
02:15once the storm has passed. Now we know your resources, especially after Hellene, maybe a
02:20little bit more wearing, how do you continue to supply the communities through North Carolina,
02:25Tennessee, and now with all this in Florida, how do you stretch those resources? So not only, we
02:31plan ahead. These are things that when we prepare for hurricanes, we plan ahead with our community
02:37partners, with our officials on the ground, and we have a very set plan. Our warehouses are full
02:44of materials that are going to be needed in the days to come. So it's an operation that is well
02:49thought, and the great thing is not only do we have people in the affected areas that have been
02:55here for the past two weeks, we have people that have come here. We have 2,000 volunteers that are
03:01responding within the Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. So we have plenty
03:07of people that are here, more that are coming once the storm has passed. So it's very, it's
03:12very important for people to know we will be here, not now, but now and the weeks to come.
03:19And so for many disasters like this, we talked about people trying to help the Red Cross.
03:24What's the last statement you want to get out to the public?
03:28Visit redcross.org to do a financial donation. You can call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Also, all the help
03:35that you can provide is going to help us save many lives. So thank you for the generosity
03:39of our donors and our volunteers who are here to support this operation.
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