17 Hawai‘i Island Volunteers Assisting in Ongoing Red Cross Efforts

Forty Myers, FL., September 14, 2017 – A Florida neighborhood is littered with debris following Hurricane Irma. Robert Kaufmann/FEMA

The Hawai‘i Red Cross says they are working in close coordination with emergency officials in Las Vegas to provide comfort and support and that one Hawai‘i Red Cross volunteer from O‘ahu was deployed to Las Vegas to provide assistance in health services.

Over the last five weeks, the American Red Cross has launched a wide-ranging relief effort to help people devastated by three historic, back-to-back hurricanes—Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

A total of 62 Hawai‘i Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to provide shelter, food, comfort and hope to victims of Hurricane Harvey and Irma. For Harvey, a total of 34 volunteers were deployed: 15 from O‘ahu, 11 from the Big Island, 6 from Maui, and 2 from Moloka‘i.

For Irma, a total 22 volunteers were deployed: 12 from O‘ahu, 4 from Kaua‘i, 3 from Maui and 3 from the Big Island.

For Maria, a total of 6 volunteers were deployed: 2 from the Big Island, and 4 from O‘ahu.

Four Hawaii Red Cross team members are also assisting virtually; one Big Island volunteer will be assisting as a call agent, one O‘ahu volunteer is assisting with shelter population counts, one O‘ahu volunteer is assisting with disaster mental health, and one O‘ahu staff member is assisting with Service to the Armed Forces Hero Care call center and casework.

In the last five weeks, the Red Cross, along with community and government partners, has provided more than 1.2 million overnight stays in emergency shelters. Shelters were opened in eight states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

For Harvey, more than 422,000 overnight shelter stays in Texas and Louisiana. For Irma, more than 646,000 overnight shelter stays across six states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. For Maria, more than 150,000 overnight stays in primarily government shelters across Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The Red Cross has served more than 5.6 million meals and snacks, and provided more than 2.6 million relief items to people in need.

Red Cross volunteers have provided more than 160,000 mental health and health services to support and care for those affected.

A total of more than 15,000 trained disaster workers, 91% of them volunteers, have been mobilized to support hurricane relief efforts. Many of these workers have supported multiple relief operations or deployed multiple times. In addition, nearly 6,000 spontaneous local volunteers have worked alongside the Red Cross in Texas and Florida.

Right now, more than 3,900 Red Cross disaster workers and more than 280 emergency response vehicles are on the ground, helping thousands of people affected by these storms.