Bayou Bound: Moundsville Woman To Aid Louisiana Flood Victims
A Moundsville woman will soon represent the Upper Ohio Valley by assisting Louisiana residents suffering from deadly flooding.
Mary Rosso-Boggess, a local volunteer firefighter and medical technician, leaves today for her first American Red Cross deployment. She is one of more than 1,700 disaster volunteers from around the country supporting the relief effort, according to Sharon Kesselring, Northwest West Virginia executive director for the American Red Cross.
Rosso-Boggess said she is excited to work as a shelter associate during the two weeks of her deployment.
“I’m very excited to get in there and help. The pictures I have seen are horrible and all of those poor people displaced need our help,” she said. “We’ll give them a safe place to say and make arrangements for new homes while giving them three meals a day with water and coffee and a bed to sleep in.”
According to Kesselring, 11 West Virginians have been deployed for recent missions, with 10 traveling to Louisiana and one to California. She added 10 additional volunteers will be able to do virtual casework from home.
“Sometimes the skill required is that of an active listener and finding out how we can fill those needs during a disaster,” Kesselring said. “Volunteers are there to bring hope to people and be sure they have a safe, dry location to return to every day.”
Kesselring added volunteer numbers are currently low in West Virginia, which the organization hopes to change.
“People need to be trained before we allow them to be deployed and sometimes people don’t realize they have to go through our process which is registration, a background check and an orientation before proceeding with an online course. There’s also a time commitment,” she said. “Mary is going to help a lot of people and this has given us the opportunity to share her story with those in the Upper Ohio Valley and help us demonstrate the need for more volunteers so we have a sufficient amount of help for people dealing with these disasters.”
According to Kesselring, interested parties can visit redcrosswv.org and click on “volunteer” to join the effort.
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