Polk Red Cross sends 21 more volunteers to Texas

Grand total from Mid-Florida Region new reaches 100

ORLANDO – Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 – Another 21 Red Cross volunteers will join the relief efforts in Texas today. 
  Today, 21 Red Cross volunteers, most of them trained from Althera Staffing in Lakeland, took off from Orlando Airport at 1:15 p.m. They completed an intensive training this week to serve as Red Cross sheltering, feeding, and bulk distribution volunteers alongside a half-dozen current volunteers from the Polk County Chapter who also deployed today.
  The local Red Cross drove them together on a bus to the airport to make their flight. Red Cross volunteers and staff were on hand to wish them well. 
  The grand total of volunteers deployed to help victims of Hurricane Ike from the Mid-Florida Region is now 100. This includes volunteers from the Polk County Chapter and 8 from Central Florida which have left over the past 18 days. The Mid-Florida Region includes the Central Florida, Coast to Coast, Polk County and Space Coast Chapters. 
  The American Red Cross is still sheltering more than 1,600 people in nine shelters. More than 2,500 Red Cross disaster workers and volunteers from around the country are on the ground to assist in the recovery. That includes 195 Emergency Response Vehicles in the state going out into communities to deliver aid, assistance, or encouragement. 
  For more information about the American Red Cross response to Hurricane Ike, visit the online newsroom at http://hurricaneike.wordpress.com. For information on how to prepare for a tropical storm or hurricane, please visit www.redcross.org, or en Español – www.cruzrojaamericana.org. To help the Red Cross respond to this and other major disasters, donate to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by calling 1-800-REDCROSS or visiting www.redcross.org.