Red Cross desperately seeks volunteers 'who want to make a difference'

BALTIMORE - The Red Cross says volunteers are desperately needed.

People from all walks of life can be of service regardless of their background or skill set.

Last week, a massive brush fire burned 700 acres of the Soldiers Delight area in Owings Mills.

The large-scale response included about 10 Red Cross volunteers who helped evacuate 29 homes in danger of burning.

Disasters like that can happen at any time, and with hurricane season approaching, the Red Cross needs all the help it can get.

"We had a multi-family fire in Upper Marlboro that unfortunately affected 20 different families, said Dale Kunce, CEO of National Capital and Greater Chesapeake Region of the America Red Cross. "Then, the very next day we had a brush fire in Owings Mills."

Kunce said the frequency of these events in our area is taxing their manpower. They need more volunteers to keep up.

"The Red Cross is showing up at every single one of these events with hope, with hugs, sometimes with warm coffee and a little bit of help," Kunce said.

Kunce said that while certain skills are beneficial, anyone can be a volunteer.

"If you have no disaster experience but you like to help people and you like to give out hugs and make people's day brighter, you'll be a fantastic Red Cross volunteer," Kunce said.

Right now, volunteers are needed to help support blood collections and disaster response and help people who are forced from their homes due to fires, storms and other disasters.

It will be a need that will become even greater come hurricane season.

 "Very large-scale events where we need to set up a shelter, maybe that's 5 to 10 people that are needed to set up a shelter, to be ready to go to make sure there's food there, make sure the cots are set up," Kunce said. "Different man power for different types of events."  

Kunce said volunteers are typically from the communities they're responding to and that the Red Cross will take care of any training you might need and you can commit as much or a little time as you want.

"The best volunteer is the person who want to make a difference," Kunce said. "Everything else is learnable."

If you're interested in helping your community, you can go to redcross.org/volunteer.