NORTH CAROLINA, USA — The Red Cross is actively looking for North Carolinians who have days or hours even to help out west. The organization needs volunteers to assist with specific recovery jobs, one volunteer calls this opportunity unforgettable.
Following Hurricane Helene, Red Cross has been on western North Carolina grounds. It now needs reinforcements. In order to get fresh volunteers in, the Red Cross is doing what they call 'Just in Time Training.'
The training is designed for local volunteers who can offer up a few days or a few hours of their time, it is looking for volunteers to do residential disaster assessment. According to the Red Cross, volunteers will be quickly trained to do this task and sent out with a seasoned volunteer to get it done.
"They will go out, they will take pictures of these people's homes, or businesses and they will report back and say 'This house has roof damage, we need to get them some tarps. This house is still without power, we need to get them meals ready to eat since they can't cook them,'" said Mike DeCinti, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Red Cross.
DeCinti said there are currently 150 North Carolinians volunteering with the Red Cross in western NC right now. Many of which left their normal behind, to help neighbors get back to theirs.
"We have volunteers that are taking time off of work, we have retired folks that needed something or wanted something to do that are getting out there. We also have ex-military that are coming out there who have worked in situations like this before and understand the dire need for boots on the ground to get this work done," explained DeCinti.
Joseph Spaccarelli said he and his girlfriend volunteered with the Red Cross for a day. He called it the best experience of his life and told WFMY News 2 about a moment he will never forget.
"Simply opening the door for someone to get into one of the Red Cross shelters out there, just the smile on their face and the thank you from them kind of caught me in my tracks and I stopped and I'm like they are smiling at me and thanking me for opening the door when their home probably just got demolished and destroyed," exclaimed Spaccarelli.
People interested in volunteering can fill out an application on the Red Cross website.