Four Red Cross Volunteers from North Dakota are on their way to North Carolina today as Hurricane Florence makes its way toward the east coast.
Gretchen Hjelmstad is the Regional Communications Manager for the Dakotas Region of the American Red Cross. She says two of the volunteers left in a response vehicle from Fargo this morning, and two more left from Bismarck. She says two more volunteers will hit the road tomorrow, and others are standing by if needed.
"Right now what the Red Cross is doing is coordinating all the resources, the supplies, the vehicles, and the volunteers as well just to make sure that the impacted areas have what they need. In this stage we're just trying to get everything to the east coast so if and when Hurricane Florence hits, we're ready to go."
Hjelmstad says volunteers go through thorough trainings before they are deployed to help with disaster and emergency situations. She says volunteers are always needed, so anyone interested can contact the Red Cross to get started. She says if you want to help with hurricane response but can't donate your time, she says financial contributions also go a long way to delivering aid that is needed.