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whether a disaster
>> When that could happen

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is still unknown. With FEMA
in Wisconsin following

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those devastating floods in
and around Milwaukee. The

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American Red Cross of
Wisconsin is issuing what

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it calls an urgent Call for
Disaster Action Team

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volunteers to help families
both locally and nationwide.

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Kathryn Halvorsen with the
Red Cross of Wisconsin

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joins us with more. And
thanks very much for being

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here.
>> Absolutely. Happy to be

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here. Thanks for having us.
>> So I know that the Red

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cross responded to
work did people with the

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Red cross do there?
>> Yeah, absolutely. We you

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know, we have had
volunteers responding

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around the clock to
Milwaukee. Originally we

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had opened two shelters and
then consolidated to

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Milwaukee Marshall High
School, down to one

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centralized location that
was more accessible to the

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clients that we were
serving there. And we were

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offering everything from a
place to stay and eat, to

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charge your phone. People
can stay as long or as

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little as they needed. And
then on top of that, we

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were always offering our
wraparound services. So

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mental health support,
disaster support, casework

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recovery resources outside
of us. It takes a huge

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effort and partnership in
the community to be able to

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help those that needed us
most.

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themselves of your services?
>> Unbelievable. We had 100

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local Wisconsin Red
crossers respond, so we

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started as a level three
disaster, which is

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basically still managed by
the Wisconsin region. And

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then we upped it to a level
four disaster response

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operation. So now we're
starting to see that

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national leadership support
because the need is so

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great. So it's great that
now we have that national

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leadership supporting us.
>> So that sounds as though

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the Red cross maintains a
presence in Milwaukee.

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>> Absolutely. Like I said,
we've got seven levels for

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disaster. And when you hit
that four level for

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disaster, we've folks from
National that are really

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stepping in now to support
us and offer guidance and

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leadership to our regional
team. Of course, we don't

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want anyone to get burnt
out at the regional local

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level. So I believe in
total we have over 150

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volunteers helping with
Milwaukee Steil.

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>> And now you're putting
out an urgent call for

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disaster volunteers. Why
are you doing that?

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>> Yeah. You know, we
respond to 65,000 disasters

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every single year. And in
the Red cross, there's a

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saying and it's we're in
continuous disaster

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response with disasters
happening more frequently.

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We're responding to a
disaster, new disasters

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within 15 days. So just to
to mention too, while we

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had this flooding happening
in Milwaukee, we also had

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to open a third shelter
unrelated to the floods

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because of an apartment
complex fire that displaced

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more than 40 people. So
this is nothing new to the

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Red cross. It's just about
building that capacity. Now

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we need more boots on the
ground, helping us be there

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for clients when it's
needed most.

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expect to be doing if they
signed on?

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>> Yeah, so we have a
really great process. When

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you sign up through
Redcross.org volunteer, we

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have a volunteer services
team that is fielding all

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these new applications, and
then they go through the

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process with you of
determining where you think

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your talents will be
utilized best. So I will

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say first and foremost, our
biggest need position is

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disaster Action Team. So
you're the first people

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helping families after a
home fire or flood. Aside

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from that, we have so many
other positions sheltering

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positions, casework, mental
health care. It's really an

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endless opportunities
available to those who are

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looking to make a
difference. And it doesn't

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require any previous
training. We offer all the

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training available through
our volunteer connection

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portal.
Halvorsen, we leave it

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there. But thank you and
there. But thank you and