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Heroes comes in many shapes and sizes. Take Frances Robledo of Ona in central Florida. She stopped to pick up hot meals from a Red Cross volunteer team and took them to her neighbor, Roger Ulrich, a neighbor for more than 30 years and good friend of her husband who died from COVID-19 in 2020. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Across central Florida, Red Cross volunteers are delivering hot meals to people affected by Hurricane Ian. Volunteers like Diane Dunder are eager to help people have some relief during this difficult time. “It’s so great. You get hugs. People are so happy to see you,” said Diane. “It’s also a chance to listen to people who share their needs. We’re eyes and ears for them.” Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Red Cross volunteers load meals and emergency supplies into Red Cross emergency relief vehicles to be distributed to people in communities affected by Hurricane Ian. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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In Cape Coral, Florida, more than 100 Red Cross emergency relief vehicles are ready for hot meals to be loaded on to be distributed to people in communities affected by Hurricane Ian. Volunteer teams drove the relief vehicles from around the country to support the response to Hurricane Ian. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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In Cape Coral, Florida, Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers load hot meals to be distributed to people in communities affected by Hurricane Ian. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Red Cross President & CEO Gail McGovern visits with volunteer Tanya Garitty while at the Red Cross shelter at Estero Community Center for people affected by Hurricane Ian. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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“You have to let it go,” said Jackie Markham, one of thousands who are rebuilding their lives following Hurricane Ian. Jackie shared some of her thoughts and feelings with American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern, who visited with people affected by the massive storm that upturned lives across central Florida. Thankfully, she evacuated in advance of the storm. For now, she’s working on making things better because ‘it works’ as a philosophy for life. And the visit from the Red Cross and McGovern? Well, that made Jackie smile despite the devastating circumstances because, she said, ‘it means so much to have someone care.’ Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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10-year-old Kanice Blake said she wasn’t too scared during the storm. She’s now safe in a Red Cross shelter. Photo by Marko Kokic/ American Red Cross
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Glad that the worst of Hurricane Ian has passed, children and their families staying in the Red Cross shelter at the Turner Center in Arcadia, Fl. do their best to entertain themselves. From local residents whose homes have been damaged to tourists trapped by rising flood waters, Red Cross shelters are open to anyone and everyone in their time of need. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Red Cross volunteer Angeline Sunday checks on Nestor Garcia and Chandra Vargas at a shelter in Tampa. "The Red Cross saved us," said Vargas, "we had nowhere else to go." Krisneily, the couple’s 15-year-old daughter, said she appreciated the cot, the food and the shower provided by the Red Cross. Angeline is a grad student at the University of New Mexico, heard about the Florida storm and decided to spend her two-week school break volunteering with the Red Cross. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Hurricane Ian caused widespread property damage and flooding in Orlando. South Orange Ave in downtown Orlando was completely blocked as flood waters rose. Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
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Shelter Manager Danny Portman speaks with Paula Silveira and Shaevel House in the Red Cross shelter at the Les Miller Community Center in Tampa as Ian pummeled the Florida peninsula. Commenting on their stay with the Red Cross, House said, "You guys did a pretty good job with the beds and everything. Where we were before there were no beds." Silveira added, "The set up here is pretty good. I felt comfortable." Photo by Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
The American Red Cross and our partners are working tirelessly in Florida to provide food, shelter and comfort for people facing the heartbreaking devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian.
Many neighborhoods that were home to retirees on fixed incomes and mobile home parks have been left unrecognizable. Poor conditions — including clogged roads and heavy traffic — are still making it difficult for people to get aid. With help from our partners, we’re reaching out to offer relief and support so that no one faces this tough time alone.
RED CROSS RESPONSE See more about our response here. With our partners, we have provided refuge for thousands of people in our shelters. Most of our shelter residents are about 70 years of age or older; many have complex health challenges and disabilities; and they have lost everything they owned because of Hurricane Ian.
With the help of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, four mobile kitchens are now cooking tens of thousands of hot meals each day. Nearly 120 Red Cross emergency response vehicles are on the roads delivering these meals and relief supplies to people struggling in the hardest hit areas.
Red Cross shelters and disaster aid stations — at 20 different locations — are open where people can either stay or get food, relief supplies and other assistance. Trained volunteers are also providing health and mental health support to families who have suffered unimaginable loss. This includes help coping with new challenges, managing medical conditions, caring for wounds or injuries, and replacing prescription medications or other critical medical equipment like canes and wheelchairs.
More than 1,600 Red Crossers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia are supporting relief efforts.
With our partners, we have provided more than 601,000 meals and snacks, and some 98,000 comfort kits and other relief items like cleaning supplies.
Red Cross teams are also starting to compile more detailed residential assessments including how many homes have been affected and the extent of that damage. This critical information will be used to make plans for what support families may need in the coming weeks and months.
HOW TO GET HELP If you need a safe place to stay or a hot meal, find open shelters on redcross.org, the free Red Cross Emergency app or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) and selecting the disaster option. You can also find shelters by following your local county and city officials on social media or monitoring local news.
Anyone who has been affected by the storm is welcome to stop by a shelter to get information, a hot meal, charge their phone, pick up relief supplies and get other essential support. The Red Cross helps anyone in need after a disaster, and everyone is welcome in our shelters. All disaster assistance is free, and we don’t require people to show any kind of identification to enter a shelter — just their name and where they were living before the disaster.
Our workers will do all they can to welcome service animals and domesticated pets comfortably. If you go to a shelter, please bring your own animal crate, supplies, medications and food whenever possible.
Depending on the situation, pets may need to be housed in a different location with support from animal welfare groups. Please consider visiting redrover.org/hurricaneian for additional pet resources.
Report missing loved ones at Missing.FL.gov, and report yourself, or loved ones, as found and safe at Safe.FL.gov. People in Lee and Charlotte counties can find information on emergency roof coverings being provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at BlueRoof.us.
YOU CAN HELP people affected by Hurricane Ian by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS, or texting the word IAN to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your gift is a commitment to helping people in need, and every single donation matters. Financial donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster.
PLEASE GIVE BLOOD The storm brought dangerous weather conditions and floodwaters which canceled dozens of blood drives with approximately 1,000 blood and platelet donations going uncollected and caused fewer donors to come out and give in and around affected areas. Individuals in unaffected areas of the country — especially those with type O blood types — are urged to give blood now to help ensure patients in impacted areas continue to have access to lifesaving blood. Please schedule an appointment to give blood today by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
CORPORATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.
ADGP $1M Members:
Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Best Buy; Caterpillar Foundation; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; PayPal; PetSmart Charities; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and Wells Fargo.
ADGP $500K Members:
Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Calmoseptine, Inc.; Capital One; CarMax; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; Dollar General; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org The Home Depot Foundation; International Paper; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Organon; PepsiCo Foundation; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stanley Black & Decker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.
ADGP $250K Members:
7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; CDW; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Company; CSX; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Gopuff; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; HCA Healthcare; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc.; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Procter & Gamble; Prudential; Raytheon Technologies; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Project, a project of New Venture Fund; Ross Stores Foundation; Ryder System, Inc.; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; U.S. Bank Foundation; and Zurich.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.
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