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Houston Volunteers and Companies Head to Northeast for Hurricane Sandy Response Effort

Posted byHoumanitarian
Red Cross volunteers prepare for deployment

(Courtney Zavala, KPRC 2 News)
Houston members of the American Red Cross have headed to the northeast to help the victims of Superstorm Sandy.

A dozen volunteers headed toward the region before the storm hit. They’re stationed mostly in New York and New Jersey. The crews from Houston have experience with hurricanes and flooding as those aren’t unusual occurrences along the Gulf Coast.

Red Cross officials said more crews from Houston may go to the northeast. They’re waiting for things to calm down and damage assessments to be made to determine how much help is needed. About 35 people in Houston are on standby and ready to go at a moment’s notice

Companies also help storm victims in the northeast

(Ryan Korsgard, KPRC 2 News)
A local company and AT&T customers are showing their support for Hurricane Sandy victims in the northeast.

Sun Coast Resources sent dozens of workers and trucks to seven states ahead of Hurricane Sandy to quickly return power to critical buildings. According to Sun Coast, the company had about 35 trucks and 50 workers in seven states.

“We provide fuel when the electric grid goes down [to the] the first responders, the hospitals, national retail chains and other customers,” said Steve Boyd, the Senior Managing Director at Sun Coast. “Without fuel to power the generators up there, hospitals obviously would not be able to open their doors. First responders need fuel for their vehicles.”

The company expects to send more workers and trucks to work in the northeast until the lights are back on.
(See these stories at KPRC 2 News)

TEXT TO DONATE: How You Can Help
AT&T Wireless is making it easy for customers to help non-profit organizations working in the northeast. With just one text, customers can donate $10 to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and the American Humane Society.

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to support the American Red Cross; STORM to 80888 to help the Salvation Army; and HUMANE to 80888 to give to the American Humane Society.

According to AT&T, customers who would like to contribute more can text up to five times for a total donation of $50. There are no fees for texting to donate, and customers will be charged via their monthly AT&T bill.

AT&T donates 100 percent of the proceeds to the charities, the company said. Customers with prepaid wireless accounts who donate will see the charges deducted from their prepaid account balances.

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