Disaster Services June Outreach Event
Story written by David Susa, EMPOWERED Member:
On June 24th 2009, three EMPOWERED members, Patrick and Audrie Goodwin and David Susa, joined Red Cross Disaster Services Volunteers, Kathy Dwyer, Sarah Morrissey for a community outreach event. The group joined The Hillsborough County Hispanic Affairs Liaison, Tony Morejon, for the start of a series of presentations to the Hispanic community regarding natural disaster preparations.
The event took place at the Iglesia Fuente de Vida Internacional located in Plant City and started around 7:45pm with approximately 20 participants. The presentation emphasized the procedures, actions, local facilities and available services in the case that a hurricane hits the Tampa Bay area. The speakers also interacted with the participants providing real life scenarios and additional information about home insurance and immigration services.
As EMPOWERED members, we used this opportunity to talk more about our organization and the services the Red Cross provides. Additionally we distributed flyers and information about “Disaster Preparedness and Relief” for the participants to take home and talk to others. We were thrilled to be able to use our “amazing Spanish skills” as well as the expo board that EMPOWERED created at our Annual Meeting in June. This certainly was an opportunity to see another side of the Red Cross mission, not only helping others in need, but also providing practical awareness and adequate education for the members in our community to prevent exponential losses from natural disasters.
I strongly encourage other EMPOWERED members to join us for more events like this one! People really appreciate your time and it was a good opportunity to interact with local officials and the programs they manage. Looks like there will be another event in August; hope to see more of you then!
