By Carrie Housman

Monday, May 12, 2008 — Families across Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia spent Mother's Day searching through their damaged homes and beginning the long road to recovery after a series of severe storms and tornadoes ripped across the central U.S. on Saturday. Media reports indicated that twenty-three people were killed by the storms, and at least 150 more were injured.

The American Red Cross has dispatched several teams of disaster assessment volunteers to the hardest hit areas to determine how many people need help and how much help they will need. In Oklahoma, shelters are open in the hardest hit areas and mobile feeding trucks have been circulating through the neighborhoods with food for survivors and emergency workers. Three Red Cross shelters were opened in Missouri on Saturday night and three emergency response vehicles are there as well. In Georgia, the damage and the Red Cross services are scattered through out the southern portions of the state, as Red Cross workers concentrated on meeting the basic needs of people affected.

In addition, the Red Cross is working with local public health authorities to ensure enough nurses are available to tend to those who lost prescription medications or may need basic first aid care. Mental health workers are also being dispatched to help support the victims of these devastating storms.

Because local telephone lines are down, the Red Cross is encouraging local residents to use the Safe and Well service to stay in touch with family and friends. The Safe and Well Website provides disaster victims with a confidential way to let their loved ones know of their general location and status. It can be accessed at www.RedCross.org.

You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the recent tornadoes, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation.

One way is through the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which provides assistance during countless crises around the world each year. Financial gifts made to the fund provide immediate relief and long-term support through needed supplies and technical assistance.

Working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as Red Cross officials in affected countries, the American Red Cross is prepared to provide additional support as needed with trained workers and supplies.

To make a gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, Long Islanders can visit their local Red Cross chapter or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. They can also make a secure, online donation at www.redcross.org. The American Red Cross in Nassau County is located at 195 Willis Avenue in Mineola. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation.