Red Cross Helping People as Very Dangerous Hurricane Helene Approaches U.S.

Support communities in the path of the storm by making a financial donation or scheduling an appointment to give blood

The American Red Cross is on the ground helping people as Hurricane Helene approaches land as a very dangerous storm. Helene may produce winds over 150 mph, a massive 20-foot-high storm surge and as much as a foot of rain. Prolonged power outages and tornadoes may occur. The effects will be felt hundreds of miles inland including in Georgia and the Carolinas.

Everyone in Helene's path should follow advice from officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so. If evacuating, bring your go-kit and any pets.Follow evacuation routes and don't try to take shortcuts because they may be blocked. Don't walk, swim or drive through floodwater.

RED CROSS RESPONSE The Red Cross moved volunteers and relief supplies to the region earlier this week to be ready to help people impacted by the storm.

• Disaster workers: Hundreds of trained Red Cross disaster workers from all over the country are working closely with community partners and local officials to ensure help is available where needed.

• Evacuation shelters: The Red Cross and partners have evacuation shelters open across the affected area in which more than 2,500 people sought refuge overnight. All are welcome.

• Food and supplies: In addition to trailers of disaster supplies pre-positioned earlier this year, the Red Cross is readying some 45,000 snacks and ready-to-eat meals and deploying numerous emergency response vehicles.

The impacts of this powerful storm may be devastating, and the Red Cross stands ready to bring in additional volunteers and supplies as needed.

BLOOD COLLECTIONS Hurricane Helene also has the potential to impact a significant number of blood drives throughout the Southeast as it heads north, disrupting the ability to collect necessary and lifesaving blood donations.

Ahead of the storm, the Red Cross sent hundreds of blood products to Florida and prepositioned blood products around the area anticipated to be most impacted by the storm to ensure blood remains available for patients in the affected area. Blood donations from across the country can help affected communities ꟷ through our national inventory, the Red Cross has the ability to move blood wherever and whenever it is needed most.

WE NEED YOUR HELPWe can't do this alone. The Red Cross urgently needs the public's support to prepare for and respond to disasters. You can help by making a financial donation, as well as scheduling an appointment to give blood or platelets by visiting redcross.orgor calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767). Individuals can also text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Those outside the affected areas are encouraged to schedule a blood donation appointment by visiting RedCrossBlood.orgusing the Blood Donor Appor calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to help restock the shelves.1-800-733-2767) to help restock the shelves.

FIND A SHELTEREvacuation shelters are open across the region. You can find evacuation shelters on redcross.org, the free Red Cross Emergency app or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).All the information you need about coming to a shelter is here.

You can also find shelters by following your local Red Cross and local emergency officials on social media, or by monitoring local news. If you need assistance finding or going to a shelter in the Big Bend region, call 800-729-3413 for help.

Hurricane evacuation shelters are typically only meant to shelter people for a short amount of time as a hurricane moves through. These facilities may not have cots and blankets available for everyone

HELP LOCATING SOMEONEThe Red Cross can help you reconnect with loved ones missing because of Hurricane Helene. If someone:

• Has a serious, pre-existing health, mental health condition or Functional and Access Need;

• Is a member of the military-connected community (active duty, reserve, guard, retiree, veteran, or immediate family member);

• Or you shared the same residence within the disaster impact area, or have recently been in contact with someone (within the past year) but are unable to reach them because of the disaster;

• Call 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and provide as much detail available to assist us in potentially locating your missing loved one. More information is available here.

CLIMATE CRISIS Helene could be the start of a series of back-to-back storms that threaten the U.S. as additional systems form in the Atlantic.Experts report Hurricane Helene was able to grow and become more destructive because of hotter-than-average ocean temperatures caused by the climate crisis, which is bringing more frequent and intense disasters that upend lives. In response, the Red Cross is providing food, shelter and recovery support on a nearly continual basis.

Find safety steps for different emergencies ꟷ including hurricanes and power outages ꟷ here.

Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP)Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster, regardless of cost. Read more here.

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Chobani; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; CMA CGM Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Mobility Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald's Corporation; Merck; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; Wells Fargo

ADGP $500K Members: ALDI; Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; Chick-fil-A; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; DHL Supply Chain; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Philanthropy; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Paul Davis Restoration; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; PetSmart Charities; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie;Stryker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; The Wawa Foundation; Wesco; Zoetis Foundation

Disaster Responder Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe Foundation; The AES Corporation; American Tire Distributors; American Water Charitable Foundation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Bath & Body Works; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; Canadian National Railway Company; CarMax; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Cisco; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; The Deluxe Foundation; The DICK'S Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Dollar Tree and Family Dollar; Duke Energy; Erie Insurance; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; International Paper; Invitation Homes; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; L'Oréal; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LKQ; Macy's, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Corporation; Martin Marietta; Masco; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Norfolk Southern; Northrop Grumman Foundation; Northwestern Mutual; Novartis US Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Phillips 66; Prudential; Raymond James; RBC Foundation USA; Reckitt; Reliance, Inc.; Reynolds American Inc.; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance's Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation; U.S. Foods; Yum! Brands; Zurich

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