Tennessee Red Cross Continues to Support Hurricane Evacuees

The American Red Cross continues to work around the clock to do all it can to provide shelter, food, comfort and other emergency support to victims of Hurricane Florence. The threat from Hurricane Florence is far from over as rivers continue to rise in the Carolinas and extremely dangerous flooding is still happening. Getting help into affected areas will be challenging for some time.

Tuesday night, more than 8,100 people sought refuge in 94 Red Cross and community shelters. The Red Cross has served more than 254,200 meals and snacks and distributed more than 3,000 relief items like diapers and comfort kits that contain deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other hygiene items for people forced from their homes.

Here in Tennessee, the Red Cross is working with partners and government officials to assess the needs of hurricane evacuees and continues to shelter evacuees in Johnson City, Knoxville and Chattanooga.  More than 43 Red Cross workers from Tennessee are deployed to the Carolinas, with many more expected to follow.

HOW YOU CAN HELP The Red Cross depends on financial donations to be able to provide disaster relief immediately. Help people affected by Hurricane Florence by visiting redcross.org, calling 1- 800-RED CROSS or texting the word FLORENCE to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster.

The Red Cross honors donor intent. Donors can designate their donation to Hurricane Florence relief efforts by choosing that option when donating on redcross.org or on 1-800-RED CROSS. The best way to ensure your donation will go to a specific disaster is to write the specific disaster name in the memo line of a check. We also recommend completing and mailing the donation form on redcross.org with your check.

PLEASE GIVE BLOOD Due to Hurricane Florence, nearly 200 blood drives have been forced to cancel, resulting in over 5,200 uncollected blood and platelet donations.  We expect additional blood drive cancellations over the coming days, with fewer blood and platelet donors available to give at drives in and around affected areas due to flooding and poor weather conditions.

The Red Cross urges people in unaffected areas to make an appointment to give blood or platelets to care for patients in the Southeast and throughout the country. There is a critical need for platelet and type O blood donations.  Appointments can be made by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767