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American Red Cross South Florida Region Sending Support To Northeast

MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Volunteers and AmeriCorps interns of the American Red Cross South Florida Region are heading north to help with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

Ronald Davis, Gilbert Osorio, Joanne Westpoint and Heidi O'Mara –all South Florida residents -are en route to New Jersey for two weeks. They are driving two Emergency Response Vehicles (ERV) which will be used for mobile feeding for people in neighborhoods throughout the affected areas.

Another local Red Cross volunteer, Robert Baltodano, traveled last week before the storm touch ground in the Northeast and has been providing mass care feeding support as ERV coordinator for Greater New York based in White Plains, New York, since Friday.

The hurricane has mobilized American Red Cross paid and volunteer staff from across the country to work with families to provide relief including crisis counseling, shelter, blankets, food and beverages and much more.

The American Red Cross is also providing mobile and fixed feeding on site.

More than 11,000 people spent Monday night in 358 Red Cross shelters in 16 states – New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana and Michigan.

The Red Cross has:

  • Mobilized more than 1,300 disaster workers into the region from all over the country
  • Activated 160 response vehicles
  • Shipped in more than 230,000 ready-to-eat meals and snacks
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