Red Cross Deploys Oklahoma Volunteers To Colorado

Red Cross volunteers from Oklahoma are paying it forward to our neighbors in Colorado.

Three volunteers were dispatched to the flooded areas there on Saturday and two more left Sunday morning. The volunteers are part of the Red Cross's Disaster Action Team.

Volunteers Olivia Dennard of El Reno and Mike Zanfardino of Stillwater arrived at the Red Cross headquarters early Sunday morning to check out an ERV or emergency response vehicle, where the two will practically live in the days ahead. 

"Flooding is an unfortunate happening and too many people have been affected by this," said Zanfardino. "Hopefully with the Red Cross, we will be able to go up there and help them get some semblance of their lives back in order again."

The two are heading to Colorado, exact destination unknown. But what they do know is they will lend a helping hand to those affected and responding to the flooding there, where the death toll continues to rise and hundreds remain unaccounted for.

"Whenever somebody suffers a disaster or emergency, different people take it different ways," said Zanfardino. "Some can march right through and pick right back up and others, they just need a little hand holding."

Volunteers will work at shelters and give everything from blankets to food to those in need. Just as around 2,000 Red Cross volunteers did for Oklahoma following the May tornadoes.

"It was just wonderful to see so many people from all over come in and help our fellow Oklahomans," said Dennard.

Volunteers just like Dennard. In fact, she was working in the tornado damaged areas of Shawnee when the unthinkable happened.

"I just never thought that it would hit home, that close to home, but it did," she said.

In her seven years of volunteering, the tables were turned when an EF5 tornado hit El Reno, her city.

"Our home was affected and of course our neighbors in our neighborhood were affected," Dennard remembers. "[It was] a great relief to see people come and help like we do, Oklahomans and people, neighbors. It was a wonderful, wonderful feeling."

The damage to her home is now restored and life is back to normal for Dennard. Now, she hopes to return that feeling of comfort to those devastated in Colorado.

"It is rewarding for me to help our neighbors when they need us," said Dennard. "I didn't think about it, I knew that I had to go be there," Dennard said.

Red Cross volunteers stay about two weeks at a time and then rotate out. There is currently one more team on standby out of Enid ready to go to Colorado if needed.

If you would like to volunteer with the Red Cross, just go to RedCross.org. The Red Cross also offers a free app where you apply to become a volunteer. You can find the app under "Team Red Cross." The app is free for both Android and iPhone users.

If you would like to donate to the Colorado relief effort, go to RedCross.org.

Red Cross volunteer info: http://www.redcross.org/support/volunteer

Team Red Cross app: http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/volunteer-app

Red Cross donate page: http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations