Northwest Iowa — A northwest Iowa man is among the Red Cross volunteers in Texas to offer relief during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
According to the American Red Cross, Allen Van Beek of Rock Rapids left this past weekend to distribute emergency supplies to victims of the hurricane that has slammed the gulf coast. He was headed to Houston to work in distribution of emergency supplies.
However, Mark Tauscheck, a Regional Communications Officer for the American Red Cross says that plans have changed somewhat as Houston continues to be inundated with several inches of rain and major flooding is occurring.
Tauscheck says everyone they’ve sent to Texas is a volunteer.
We had a chance to talk to Van Beek briefly from Austin.
Van Beek tells us that he has been a volunteer through the Red Cross’s Sioux City chapter since 2012. He says his first deployment was Hurricane Sandy, which hit the eastern United States in October of that year.
Van Beek says he loves what he’s doing.
The Red Cross says they have tractor-trailer loads of relief supplies in the region – enough to support more than 20,000 people for weeks. The supplies include cots, blankets, ready-to-eat meals, comfort kits and cleaning supplies. The Red Cross is also mobilizing its disaster partners to support feeding, child care, disaster assessment and other disaster services.
If you want to help people affected by Hurricane Harvey, you can visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text the word HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
