Update 09/13/2005

The American people can be confident the American Red Cross will spare no effort to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors. The Red Cross is establishing a comprehensive system to deliver needed financial assistance to storm victims.

The Upstate SC Chapter of the American Red Cross continues to assist families and individuals devastated by the hurricane's onslaught. To date, trained volunteers have assisted 927 people providing assistance of food, clothes, prescriptions and other emergency supplies. The Upstate chapter has provided direct assistance of over $322,000 to hurricane victims that have come to the Upstate. We are now working with each family to transition them out of the palmetto Expo. This includes helping them reach a final destination or if they are planning to stay in the area, helping them find temporary or permanent housing arrangements.

The Upstate SC Chapter has organized training for literally hundreds of volunteers to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Because of this generous outpouring from community members, the Red Cross has now reached its capacity for volunteers needed to help in the Upstate with this disaster at this point in time.

The American Red Cross continues to work with our partners to provide food and sheltering to the victims in the affected areas. More than 74,000 trained Red Cross Disaster Relief workers from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have responded to help their neighbors in need. To date, the Red Cross has provided 207,000 survivors in over 709 shelters. The American Red Cross has served more than 7.6 million hot meals to survivors of Hurricane Katrina since before first landfall.

Many of the evacuees have lost loved ones or are unable to locate their families. The Red Cross "Family Links Registry" on www.redcross.org is one way for families to re-connect. Concerned family members can register the names of their loved ones and view the list of those already posted. Since its inception, the Registry has received a total of 115,242 calls with over 5,000 coming in during the past 24 hours Due to the extent of the damage and the number of people displaced, concerned friends and family members are encouraged to visit the site daily. You can visit the "Family Links Registry" via www.redcross.org or call 1-877-LOVED-1s (1-877-568-3317)...

The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need for this disaster and thousands of other disasters across the country each year.

Due to the generosity of the American people, the American Red Cross stands ready to meet the monumental challenge of helping to rebuild lives. The WYFF Telethon raised over $640,000 for Katrina Relief. For every dollar donated, 91 cents goes directly to assist disaster victims.

Ten local volunteers have been deployed from the Upstate Chapter for 3-week assignments in affected areas. They are feeding victims on mobile emergency response vehicles and working in shelters in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. One volunteer has been deployed to the National Call Center.

Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster our nation has faced; the disaster is the largest and costliest relief effort ever mounted by the American Red Cross. It is expected that relief efforts will continue for many months and will have to be sustained through the generosity of the American public.

The Red Cross has been preparing for Hurricane Ophelia by assessing potential equipment, shelter and volunteer needs even while responding to Katrina. Shelters are already open and more are on standby in the Outer Banks and other low-lying and inland areas. The first priority of the Red Cross before, during and after any disaster is to provide safe shelter, food and safe drinking waters, as well as emotional support. The Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters every year - whether the situation is a single-family fire or a multi-state catastrophe.