American Red Cross and the Salvation Army need volunteers and donations to keep helping hurricane victims in Southeast

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – In light of the recent natural disasters caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton many people have lost their homes and belongings. Local organizations like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army need monetary donations and volunteers to keep providing life-saving aid.

The aftermath of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton has left communities in the southeast in dire need of support. “The number keeps growing and growing right now, we had 83,000 people that had to actually leave their homes and go into a shelter, just Milton alone,” said Executive Director for Central-Western Massachusetts Chapter of American Red Cross, Nia Rennix.

Both the American Red Cross and Salvation Army are on the front lines, providing critical assistance to victims. But they can not do it alone and are in need of more volunteers to sustain their efforts. So far, the American Red Cross sent 2,300 volunteers nationally, 42 from Massachusetts, but is still short about 1,600 volunteers.

“We need folks helping out with sheltering, people that have a medical background that can train to be one of our mental health specialists,” said Rennix.

The Salvation Army is seeking people for their medical aid and emotional and spiritual care services as well. “We are deploying folks from all over the country, into the Southern region to support the people already working there prior to and will be working there throughout the entire disaster for years to come,” said Salvation Army Director of Emergency Disaster Services, Emily Mew.

The Salvation Army is also looking for monetary donations to continue to provide food, drinks, clean-up kits, and hygiene products to survivors. “A lot of times people who have lost their homes of course don’t have electricity, can’t cook, so us being in their neighborhoods, providing a hot meal, a snack, a beverage really goes a long way,” added Mew.

Salvation Army has so far provided almost 400,000 hot meals and kits along with about 300,000 drinks and snacks.

22News and our parent company, Nexstar Media, are teaming up with the American Red Cross to raise money for those affected by the recent hurricanes Helene and now Milton. To donate click here .

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