The American Red Cross on Kauai needs you.
And you.
And you.
“We are looking for all areas for volunteers, help with disaster action teams and hotline volunteers who are ready to respond anytime of day or night,” said Padraic Gallagher, disaster program manager.
That’s not all.
“We need administrative volunteers that work recruiting, training and on-boarding other volunteers,” Gallagher said. “We need logistics people and we always need nurses, docs or other healthcare professionals.”
They even need help with sheltering volunteers responding to evacuation shelter for flooding or hurricanes.
People can volunteer as much or as little as they want, even just a couple of hours a month would help out, he added.
The Red Cross will have a sign-up table at Kukui Grove Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. People can stop by and sign up to become a Red Cross disaster services volunteer or sign up for free smoke alarm installations.
It’s been a nonstop year for Red Cross, particularly with the flooding in April that devastated the North Shore and raised demand for its services, and again in August from the impacts of Hurricane Lane. There have been several house fires that have left families needing the Red Cross, which was happy to respond.
“This past year has been a very busy one for disaster response on Kauai and across the country and our volunteers constantly rose to the challenge, but there is still so much to do and we can’t do it without everyone’s help,” Gallagher said.
The Hawaii Red Cross will be requesting $50,000 in nonprofit grant funding from the County of Kauai.
March 2017 marked the 100th year the American Red Cross has been in Hawaii.
When it comes to volunteers, you can’t have too many.
The Red Cross would love 50 more volunteers to add to its base of about 75 of those called often into action on short notice.
Volunteers are not on their own.
“We are looking for volunteers that want to give back and really help out their fellow Kauaians. It doesn’t really take much time commitment,” Gallgher said. “We train our volunteers and you are never sent out alone.”
It is also looking for volunteers to help with disaster preparedness, and teaching preparedness to grade school children.
“Along with that we need people to help installing smoke alarms. It’s a free program open to everyone, in which we install smoke alarms in your home and discuss basic fire prevention,” Gallagher added.
Gallagher can be reached at padraic.gallagher@redcross.org and 245-4919
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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
