Local Red Cross helps flood victims

CENTER CITY - June 13, 2008 23-year-old Jenna Tesauro of Mullica Hill has been a Red Cross volunteer for 10 months and was deployed to San Diego for the wildfires last fall. On Sunday she'll face a new challenge when see flies to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a three-week tour of duty.

Right now, flooding is massive in Cedar Rapids with 100 blocks under water and 4,000 homes evacuated.

Tesauro is one of four volunteers who will be deployed from the Philadelphia chapter.

Tesauro is trained to work a truck used to deliver food and drinks to flood victims whether in shelters or neighborhoods

As a designated call center, calls from victims are routed from the center to Philadelphia, where trained volunteers pull up necessary information from computer screens.

Red Cross chapters throughout our region have volunteers on standby.

In Camden, Burlington County, the volunteers switch out after three weeks and it's expected that help from the Red Cross will be needed in the flood-ravaged states for quite some time.