Red Cross To Start A Tulsa Call Center

Tulsa will play a role in the next major disaster no matter where it happens. The local Red Cross will be one of 10 call centers across the country. It's a new system they hope will work better after

Friday, June 16th 2006, 4:01 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa will play a role in the next major disaster no matter where it happens. The local Red Cross will be one of 10 call centers across the country. It's a new system they hope will work better after Hurricane Katrina. But as News on 6 reporter Steve Berg tells us, they need your help to make it happen.

Al Gencarelli was laid off from his telecommunications jobs just before Hurricane Katrina. He took it as inspiration.

Al Gencarelli: "I had an internal need to try to help people."

Gencarelli is one of the volunteers going through the training for the Tulsa Red Cross Call Center.
Spokeswoman Nellie Kelly says Tulsa was chosen to be one of 10 in the country because of our track record.

Nellie Kelly: "Whenever there is a volunteer project, Tulsa is always a place that the Red Cross can turn to nationally... because they know Tulsans are so giving and so willing to give of their time."

Kelly says a single Red Cross call center was overwhelmed during Katrina, to put it mildly. For every call that was answered, she says 400 more were on hold.

Nelli Kelly: "It was very difficult to handle it all from one location so we feel that this is a much better system of having the work spread out evenly and having volunteers do it all across the country."

But they need more volunteers. So far, they have about 10 of them. They'd like to have 30 to 40.
They need to have good computer skills and a good dose of patience.

Nellie Kelly: "Of course the callers are going to be people who are under stressful conditions... they might no be in the best of moods, they might be confused, so we really need people who are first and foremost, compassionate."

People like Al.

Al Gencarelli "Red Cross can always use more help if anybody wants to volunteer." Steve Berg, the News on 6.