Hurricane Irene relief is a huge effort

The sheer magnitude of the American Red Cross relief effort following Hurricane Irene is staggering. The Red Cross has dedicated every one of its Emergency Response Vehicles east of the Rockies to the East Coast relief effort. That is 260 of the mobile feeding and supply vehicles, each capable of serving hundreds of meals a day. Fifty-two of these vehicles are now at work in North Carolina. Ten kitchens, capable of serving 140,000 meals a day, are operating in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New York. Partner agencies in these same states plus New Jersey are making available 1.3 million meals.

Since Friday, Red Cross shelters along the East Coast from North Carolina to New England have provided 52,000 overnight stays for evacuees fleeing Hurricane Irene or its aftermath. In North Carolina, overnight shelter stays are up to 7,067 as of Tuesday, with a total of 43,020 meals served along with nearly 30,000 snacks. Most of the 52 shelters that were open in North Carolina have closed; eight remained open on Tuesday.

What has made Hurricane Irene such a monster is not its wind velocity or its size but its path all the way up the East Coast. After coming ashore near Morehead City, N.C., the storm continued up the coastline, hitting Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. Recovery will be a huge operation.

The Red Cross response to Hurricane Irene will cost the nonprofit organization millions of dollars, which is why fundraising efforts are under way even as relief operations continue. Donations to the Disaster Relief Fund can be made to any Red Cross chapter or to national headquarters, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Donations can be made at the Red Cross website, www.redcross.org, or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS. Online donations can also be made to www.encredcross.org, where donors have the option of selecting a chapter in eastern North Carolina to receive the donation.

Mobile phone users can donate $10 by texting REDCROSS to 90999.