Local Red Cross Volunteers Prepare to Offer Aid in Florida

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina has had its share of natural disasters, including plenty of tornadoes. Now, Triangle area volunteers are headed for central Florida's hardest hit areas.

Alex Malpass and Patricia Foster volunteered to drive a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle to central Florida, where they expect to feed 800 people every day out of the vehicle. Eight other volunteers from central North Carolina are flying down to meet them.

Red Cross volunteers expect to work 15-hour days for two weeks in the middle of a disaster zone, while families they help will mourn the loss of life and the loss of life savings. It’s exhausting work, which is exactly why they're going.

“You know, you've done something,” Malpass said. “It's much better than sitting at home and not doing anything.”

For Malpass, the trip is the latest in a decade of adventures with the Red Cross, including two months in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. However, this is Foster’s first trip to deliver disaster relief.

“I think the biggest reward is helping someone else that can't help themselves right now,” Foster said. “I'm lucky I can do that."