Red Cross disaster volunteers needed

The Sioux Empire American Red Cross is still needing volunteers in small and midsized communities in southeastern and south central South Dakota to be trained as Red Cross disaster volunteers. When there are sufficient volunteers who have completed the necessary contact information, training will be scheduled to train 130 new disaster volunteers. The counties that have been targeted for this training include Clay, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, Moody, Turner, Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Gregory and Yankton.

Training will be held in 13 different communities within those 10 counties and each training will occur on a Friday evening, all day Saturday and the majority of Sunday. Volunteers will need to be able to attend all training over the weekend. Training would start in June at the first community where sufficient volunteers have signed up. Training will be held in the other communities during the summer until all have been trained. Each volunteer will have four disaster classes, CPR and first aid during the weekend training. There is no cost to the volunteer for training.

CEO of the Sioux Empire Red Cross Jeff Stingley said, "With all of the tornadoes, sheer winds, house fires and floods that hit areas in eastern South Dakota starting on May 5, the need for local Red Cross volunteers is even more critically important at this time. Neighbors helping neighbors is why the Sioux Empire Red Cross is seeking Red Cross disaster volunteers in small and midsized communities." Stingley added that people from all 10 counties have contacted his office to volunteer; however, several counties only had a few people who have indicated an interest at this time.

Interested individuals willing to become Red Cross disaster volunteers in the 10 primary counties need to send their name; home address; home,work, or cell telephone numbers and e-mail address to jstingley@siouxempireredcross.org or call the Sioux Falls office at 605-336-2448.

People wanting to become a Red Cross disaster volunteer need to be at least 18 years old and in good health. People who are emergency responders and volunteer fire fighters will already have a key role when an emergency strikes, so they should continue in their official role rather than becoming a Red Cross disaster volunteer.