INDIANAPOLIS — On the other side of the country, the pictures don’t even seem real, like something out of a movie.
But real lives and real homes are being lost.
“The last number I saw was 500,000 people who have been evacuated from their homes who are in shelters waiting to see what that impact really is," said Kaleena Wright with the American Red Cross in Indiana.
Right now, the Red Cross is trying to staff to help disaster victims in any way they can.
“Because there is so much going on, we need more people to help,” Wright said.
The Red Cross in Indiana currently has 60 volunteers working disaster relief, including Deb and Jesse McDaniel, who dropped everything on a moment’s notice to drive 2,200 miles to Oregon.
“Our normal assignment is for a minimum of two weeks,” Jesse said. “They are stretched thin on the west coast, so that’s one of the reasons for the long drive.”
We talked to them on the phone, in Nebraska, halfway through their road trip.
Helping is nothing new to the couple; they’ve been out to help hurricane and tornado victims before.
They say they cannot look at what’s going on and not want to be involved.
“It just breaks our hearts, so as long as we’ve got the time and we’ve got the ability to donate the time, we’re just going to do it,” Deb said.
The Red Cross says they can always use more — more donations and more volunteers like Deb and Jesse.
“The amount of heart and dedication that it takes from our volunteers is huge, and it calls on a special type of person to do that type of work,” Wright said.
To find out more about volunteer opportunities with the Red Cross, call 888-684-1441 or visit Redcross.org/volunteer.