If you’ve seen the news in the past few days chances are you’ve heard plenty about the weather. From the severe heat to severe storms and a lot of other severity in between, it has definitely been a summer for the extreme all across the globe.

 

Most recently, the Red Cross has “touched down” in Central Iowa where flooding continues to destroy homes, the clean water supply, and power. In fact, it’s the third time in a matter of months that the Red Cross has responded to flooding in the area. Shelters are open, Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) are out delivering meals and mental health caseworkers are providing support to those affected. And now, a little assistance from St. Louis is on the way.

 

Tonight, we are headed to the warehouse to load a trailer full of relief supplies and send it on its way to Iowa. There are five Red Cross disaster field supply center warehouses located strategically across the country. I manage our St. Louis warehouse. Since Iowa is our neighbor, I got the call. At this point in time, damage assessment still needs to be done so we only have an early estimate of their needs. But they have requested 800 cleanup kits and approximately 400 comfort kits. Each cleanup kit has a mop, bucket, and other cleaning supplies to help the families when they return home. Comfort kits have a toothbrush, shampoo, washcloth, and other basic need items since many times, families evacuate quickly and leave without the necessities.

 

The trailer of supplies will be dropped in Iowa and stay until the supplies are used and more may be needed. In addition to the trailer, we’ve also sent one of the St. Louis Red Cross’ finest disaster volunteers, Crow Brozovich to help with the response. As manager of the damage assessment, we know Iowa residents are in good hands.

 

Stay tuned!

 

Tony