National Disasters

Every disaster starts as a local disaster. When disasters are too large for local resources to handle, specially trained Red Cross volunteers from around the country, including the Twin Cities Area, deploy to the affected area. These trained volunteers have responded to disasters like California wildfires, Midwestern floods and also Hurricanes Ike and Katrina, to name a few. Once at the site of the disaster, volunteers provide emergency services, food, water, and shelter to those in need.

Twin Cities Response

Local volunteers, like Dave and Kitty Dornfeld, have been deployed on a number of national Red Cross assignments. For them, the most rewarding part of volunteering is being able to help people through the initial trauma of a disaster.

According to Dave, “The reward for helping is the gratitude expressed in words, body language and the look in their eyes. After a disaster, people are confused, in disbelief and full of despair. Then the Red Cross arrives - soothing the physical and mental pain and helping them recover.”

Dave adds that the hardest part of being a disaster volunteer is not knowing when disaster will strike. “But once you’re called to serve, you enter into an entirely different world where your own personal problems are far less important; helping other is (the priority.)”

Need Red Cross
disaster assistance?
612-871-7676