DES MOINES—
Robert Hanse sums it up this way, "Just been keepin' busy with the local weather." That might be the understatement of 2010, a year which has depleted the resources of local American Red Cross chapters, the non-profit organization for which Hanse volunteers.The fact is, Red Cross volunteers have trouble keeping up. Thursday, they arrived in Des Moines to stock up on flood "clean-up kits." Fifteen-hundred of the buckets that contain mops, Pine-Sol, and brushes have been distributed, even before homes were damaged and destroyed in Hopkinton and Moniticello when a dam failed, last week. Hanse has helped flood victims in the Clarion/Belmond area, Humboldt Co., Pocahontas, and Fort Dodge.
The Red Cross volunteers from Cedar Rapids are so busy distributing kits, they don't have time to drive to Des Moines to re-stock their supply. Cassandra Nelson of the Central Iowa Chapter said, "They weren't able to be here today because they are out serving that community right now."
Nelson said Thursday's situation in Cedar Rapids helps to illustrate the problem. Iowans used to think of disasters in terms of the floods of '93 and 2008. "Where there's a very large, heavily populated areas that are affected. Now, it's smaller communities that are being affected," said Nelson. She adds that a larger number of smaller disasters are depleting the Red Cross's local funds. One-hundred thousand dollars has already been spent by the Central Iowa Chapter this year on food, shelter, and clean-up kits.
At a cost of $25 per kit, Iowa chapters must now ask for funds from the same national pot of money that helps such disaster recovery efforts as flooding in Nashville, TN and the earthquake in Haiti. Nelson said, "We have had to ask for national assistance throughout the state, but that's just what (the assistance) is out there for."
You can help help by donating to the Red Cross. Call 1-800-RED-CROSS, log on to www.redcross.org, or text "RED CROSS" to 90999. Donations can be designated to a specific cause or chapter.
