It’s now been two weeks since Hurricane Florence made landfall, and still, flooding continues. Many in the Carolinas have lost everything. Some 3,500 Red Crossers from all over the country are on the ground now, working around the clock to provide shelter, food, and comfort for families affected by this devastating storm. Locally, we’ve sent more than 60 volunteers to help. And as many of them return home from two-week deployments, others are heading out to provide relief.

We’re continuing to update the list of those currently deployed right here on our blog:

It’s always amazing to see what our deployed volunteers do on a large-scale disaster relief operation, and especially so when their updates involve Blackhawk helicopters! In these photos, our COO, Ed Cubanski, and our State Relations Disaster Liaison, Rich Hajeris, are seen doing our region proud:

This weekend offers a plethora of ways to help people affected by Florence right here in Eastern New York. Saturday is the Six Flags Great Escape Zombie Run 5K, with proceeds from every race registration being donated to the Red Cross. Also on Saturday, the Poughkeepsie Galleria is hosting an emergency fundraiser for Hurricane Florence, with volunteers ready to receive donations from 10am to 3pm near the Target entrance to the mall. Through Sunday, Price Chopper/Market 32 will continue to collect donations of $1 or $5 at all registers, and Hoffman Car Wash will donate 100% of all hot wax sales for hurricane relief. Please take advantage of these local opportunities to support our disaster relief efforts and help people affected by Hurricane Florence.

As always, we continued to respond to local disasters across our region this week. Since last Friday, our Disaster Action Team volunteers have been called to four local fires, and provided emergency assistance to a total of 29 people.

And not to forget our other critically important lines of service, we shared a few updates from partners who are helping to deliver the Red Cross mission in ways beyond disaster relief…

SEFCU employees spent much of the day on Thursday packing Totes of Hope with our Services to the Armed Forces Team. We’re now prepared to serve hundreds of homeless and in-need veterans at the Homeless Veteran’s Stand Down on Saturday, October 13 in Latham.

And Assemblyman Kieran Lalor shared a personal video talking about the importance of donating blood. He’s hosting a Red Cross blood drive on Saturday, October 13 at East Fishkill Community Center. Visit redcrossblood.org to schedule an appointment!

That’s it for this week. Be sure to follow along on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest until next week’s roundup!

The American Red Cross Eastern New York Region is made up of approximately 1,800 volunteers serving 24 counties in Upstate New York. With a wide array of programs and services being offered throughout the year, there’s usually a lot going on! We share regular updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more…but just in case you miss any of that, use our weekly roundup to catch up on the highlights! Did we miss something worth sharing? Email us anytime at news.eny@redcross.org!