Our Red Cross region has been lucky enough to receive assistance from five wonderful young ladies over the past couple of weeks; they helped with everything from disasters response projects to preparedness presentations.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) have launched an innovative partnership to establish a FEMA-devoted unit of 1,600 service corps members within AmeriCorps solely devoted to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
In Santa Barbara the FEMA corps worked alongside of disaster volunteer, John Parsons, to help give our warehouses and trailers a well-needed spring cleaning.
“They were incredible,” Parsons said, “I can only image how much we could get done if I had them for another week!”
The FEMA corps not only did on-site work but took their high spirits into the community, reaching out to nearly 30 new feeding partners. They staffed a Red Cross table speaking with the community of Santa Barbara about personal preparedness. On April 18, they joined other Red Crossers in Santa Maria to install free smoke alarms as part of the Home Fire Campaign:
This group has truly made an impact and has increased our ability and confidence to respond to disasters.
Keep your eye out for FEMA corps coming to your region! Any project that is handed to them is taken down with diligence and speed. We thank them for all they did for us!
Clara Von Ins
AmeriCorps NPRC 2014-2015
Disaster Program Coordinator
American Red Cross Central California Region
Red Cross Central California Blog 