VALLEY FOLKS HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS.Byline: Andrea Cavanaugh Staff Writer Hours after he received word that his help was needed in hurricane-ravaged Florida, Burbank resident Dick Thorpe was on a plane. Thorpe, 67, is one of 20 American Red Cross American Red Cross: see Red Cross. volunteers from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. helping victims of hurricanes Charley and Frances. Three-quarters of those volunteers hail from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Thorpe, who is coordinating emergency shelter Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they can't live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific type of situation, such as battered operations in Fort Myers Fort Myers, city (1990 pop. 45,206), seat of Lee co., SW Fla., on the Caloosahatchee River, near the Gulf of Mexico; founded 1850, inc. 1905. It has a tourist trade and light industry and is a shipping point for citrus fruits, winter vegetables, flowers (especially , Fla., is no stranger to natural disasters. He lent a hand when wildfires ravaged rav·age v. rav·aged, rav·ag·ing, rav·ages v.tr. 1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town. 2. Southern California last fall, and he has tended storm victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. He comes to aid of Los Angeles residents when their homes are gutted by fire. He just returned from a stint in Peru as a medical missionary, and hopes to go to India on a similar mission later this year. The retired lighting and sound technician said he is ready to lend a hand to give assistance. to give assistance; to help. See also: Hand Lend at a moment's notice, whether it's across the street or across the globe. ``People need help,'' he said. ``I have the knowledge to help them.'' Volunteers like Thorpe make up 97 percent of the 14,000 Red Cross workers who have supplied food, shelter and other aid since Hurricane Charley slammed into the Florida coast on Aug. 13, said H.T. Linke, a spokesman for the Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles. ``We couldn't do one-tenth of what we do without our volunteers,'' Linke said. ``Volunteers are the backbone and the muscle of the Red Cross.'' Volunteers from Southern California and across the country are staffing hundreds of emergency shelters and aid trucks, serving meals and snacks, and supplying everything from hotel vouchers and grocery money to drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. and toothbrushes to victims of the two storms, which have killed 40 people and caused more than $10 billion in damage. Red Cross volunteers look after disaster victims' emotional health as well as their physical needs. Canoga Park resident Frank Chew, 79, returned from Florida on Sept. 1 after spending 12 days counseling storm victims. A retired psychologist, Chew was one of 135 mental-health professionals who counseled hurricane victims, both in emergency shelters and in their own battered homes. ``It's amazing to me how resilient people really are,'' Chew said. ``If they're able to sit down and talk to someone, they bounce back.'' Andrea Cavanaugh, (805) 583-7602 andrea.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com HOW TO HELP --For more information about becoming a Red Cross volunteer, call (213) 739-5271. To make a donation, call (800) 435-7669 (HELP NOW). CAPTION(S): box Box: HOW TO HELP (see text) |
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