August 31, 2008
Charities Brace for Hurricane Gustav
By Peter Panepento
Charities are preparing for a major disaster recovery effort as Hurricane Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast for a predicted Monday afternoon landfall.
The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army are dispatching swarms of employees and volunteers to help those who are being evacuated for the storm and to be ready for what could be a relief effort on par with the effort that followed Hurricane Katrina three years ago. (Read The Chronicle’s most recent update on how nonprofit leaders are rebuilding the city and listen to audio excerpts from people who moved to the city to help with the recovery.)
“Right now we are asking everyone who might be in the way of this storm to get out and batten down the hatches,” said Major Gene Hogg, the Salvation Army’s Divisional Secretary for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. “This is shaping up to be a big storm and we are anticipating a long-term recovery effort will be needed. The more people we can get out of the way before it hits, the better.”
The Salvation Army said it has set up a staging area in Hattiesburg, Miss., to support those dislocated from New Orleans and is setting up 19 additional shelters throughout the state of Texas.
The charity said it has the capacity to offer more than 560,000 meals per day to those who are being evacuated from the storm.
The American Red Cross is also preparing for a significant relief effort. The agency is moving nearly 200 mobile feeding trucks into Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.
The Red Cross is also sending in more than 100,000 cots, 200,000 blankets, and tens of thousand of hygiene kits and ready-to-eat meals. These supplies are being loaded onto 99 shelter support trailers and 35 local vehicles to supplement the charity’s resources in the Gulf Coast region.
In a speech this morning, President George W. Bush encouraged Americans to donate money to charities such as the American Red Cross that are providing disaster relief.
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