Red Cross offers boot camp for volunteers

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- Disaster situations can strike at any moment.  

The Red Cross is always ready to go to work.  

But, they cannot do it without the help from volunteers.

Saturday, the Elkhart County Red Cross offered a boot camp for new volunteers.

They got a chance to learn the basics of working in a Red Cross shelter.
 
Volunteers learned how to help in a disaster, and important organizational skills needed in a crisis.
 
Heading into summer, the organization says it is always looking for more help.
 
"The Red Cross could not do our job without volunteers. Ninety-nine percent of anyone I meet from Red Cross is a volunteer. So, whether that's a local home fire or a national operation like a tornado, everyone at the Red Cross is voluntarily giving their time, " says Doug Farmwald, Emergency Services Coordinator of the Elkhart County Red Cross Chapter.
 
Most of the chapter's calls are for house fires, but they also help with natural disasters like flooding and severe storms.
 
In fact, several volunteers from Elkhart were sent to southern Indiana to help out after the deadly tornadoes last month.
 
 

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