Volunteers with the American Red Cross traveled from Jackson, Vicksburg and other areas for a gathering at the McComb Sports Park last week recognizing the work they do and spreading the message that others like them are always needed.
Tamica Jeuitt, the Natchez-based executive director of the Southwest Mississippi Chapter of the American Red Cross, said there are plenty of ways to help the Red Cross.
“We have those who work on disaster action teams and respond to the daily house fires,” she said. “We have volunteers who help with health fairs, we have health services, mental health volunteers.”
Chaplain-like “spiritual care volunteers” are another important job, she said, adding that the Red Cross has training for the volunteers in order for them to be able to reach out to people of different faiths.
“We can help them tap into their spiritual care because a lot of times when people lose everything, that’s what they need,” Jeuitt said.
Other volunteers help maintain the vehicle fleet and move it to areas in need, and others can help with administrative duties such as bookkeeping and writing thank-you letters to donors.
All told, Jeuitt said there are 140 different positions for volunteers.
“We’ve got something for everybody,” she said. “You cannot have enough volunteers. There’s always something to do. Right now, we’re seeing back-to-back storms.”
She said a natural disaster typically strikes somewhere in the U.S. every 20 days.
“We do need volunteers,” said Tylertown Alderman Fred Magee. who works with Jeuitt as a community volunteer leader for the Red Cross.
“I’m her contact during disasters and I deal with all of the elected officials, seeing what they need and patching back to the chain of command for her,” he said.
Magee said more volunteers are needed to respond to house fires and other disasters.
“There are a lot of opportunities. You can deploy all over the United States for disasters and also you can work locally,” he said.
He said victims of house fires can get immediate assistance from the Red Cross to find food, clothing and shelter.
“They call 1-800-RED-CROSS and they’re going to call you back the same day and they’re going to help you out with lodging and clothing and food,” he said.
