Written by Dariana Molina, American Red Cross Public Affairs

As a national organization, the American Red Cross is divided into various divisions, regions and chapters throughout the country. Based on each community’s needs, vital resources and supplies are pre-positioned and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Especially during a disaster, we see great collaboration efforts taking place between each entity of the Red Cross. Chapters and regions take pride in supporting their neighbors whenever and wherever they need it most.

Since we often see an increased risk of disaster in South Florida, the region recently added a Multi-use Emergency Response Vehicle (MERV) to its fleet. A MERV is part of a small but mighty fleet of repurposed response trucks that carry tools and supplies to fix or repair Emergency Response Vehicles (ERV) when they are out supporting a community after a disaster.

Earlier this week, volunteers from the Greater Miami and the Keys Chapter took part in transporting a MERV from Miami to Tallahassee. South Florida volunteer Hector Pereira drove the MERV and picked up Arizona volunteer Raymond (Pat) Stinnett from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport upon landing. They both shared the drive north to Tallahassee; thus enabling the South Florida Region to support our neighbors to the north during the Hurricane Debby relief operation.

Hundreds of Red Cross disaster workers continue to help people in the Southeast impacted by Debby. The storm threatened millions of people from Florida to New England with heavy rain and tornado warnings. In some areas, the Red Cross provides essential health services in shelters and helps replace items such as eyeglasses and prescription medications. Red Crossers are also visiting some of the hardest-hit areas, offering hot meals and relief supplies for people beginning to clean up.

We continue to be in constant communication with emergency management agencies, local officials and community partners to support the affected areas in the days and weeks to come. To learn more about how you can support our disaster relief efforts, visit redcross.org.