{"id":6976,"date":"2012-11-08T10:58:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T16:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=6976"},"modified":"2012-11-08T11:20:21","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T17:20:21","slug":"smette-updates-serving-sandy-disaster-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=6976","title":{"rendered":"Smette Updates Serving “Sandy” Disaster Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News Nov 8, 2012) — Local Red Cross volunteer, Dave Smette, is still serving meals to those displaced by Superstorm Sandy.<\/p>\n

Red Cross Buffalo Valley Chapter, Manager, Beth Dewald in Jamestown set up a telephone opportunity for the local media, on Thursday, at the Red Cross Jamestown Business Center, headquarters, to chat with Smette and find out a bit more of his day, and what is happening in New Jersey, where he and Melissa Sheppard from Dickinson are volunteering.<\/p>\n

Smette and Sheppard left on October 31st<\/sup> from Minot in a Red Cross Emergency Response vehicle, on the road for over 1,600 miles on a two and a half day trip.<\/p>\n

When we talked to Smette he and Sheppard along with a Red Cross volunteer from Washington State had just loaded the ERV with 200 hot meals, for lunchtime, and were on their way from a kitchen set up and run by the Southern Baptist Church members from Atlanta, Georgia, located in Waretown, New Jersey, 35 miles north of Atlantic City.<\/p>\n

They were headed 10 miles out to a shelter south of Tom\u2019s River, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

There, the food is served, and then back to the kitchen to unload, clean the eating utensils, and then reload and travel back to deliver the evening meals at about 5-p.m.<\/p>\n

The day ends back at the location he\u2019s staying at, in Waretown.<\/p>\n

In that area alone, the Red Cross has 15 ERVs each delivering 200 meals, serving from four kitchens.<\/p>\n

Smette says he typical day consists of rising at 6-a.m., on the road to the kitchen by 7-or 8-a.m. to load the hot meals, and then on the road to deliver by 9-a.m.<\/p>\n

He says the nor\u2019easter storm that hit the are devastated by Superstorm Sandy received 3-4 inches of new snow the past 24 hours, but, dumped another foot of heavy wet snow north of Waretown, which caused another 200,000 power outages.<\/p>\n

Some residences are running on generator backup power.<\/p>\n

He added that is on top of about 671,000 still without power from “Sandy” which initially had 5.2 million people left in the dark, and without heat or a way to prepare hot meals.<\/p>\n

Smette pointed out that diesel fuel is somewhat easier to come by now, but, when they arrived the gas stations, that were in operation, had long lines.<\/p>\n

Smette will stay in that area of New Jersey for about another week, for a 14 day stay.<\/p>\n

He and Sheppard may leave the ERV there, to keep serving the displaced residents, and fly back to North Dakota.<\/p>\n

Smette says those being served, give the Red Cross volunteers a warm welcome and “thank you,” and even other motorists, when they see the Red Cross vehicles give them a “thumbs up.”<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, over 5,800 Red Cross workers from all 50 states are supporting shelters, providing food, and water at fixed sites, and driving through neighborhoods to distribute meals and supplies.<\/p>\n

Feeding operations are continuing in New Jersey along with all five boroughs of New York City, providing food, water, relief supplies, and comfort.<\/p>\n

The Red Cross has helped people in ten states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, all affected by “Sandy,” serving more than 3.2 million meals and snacks.<\/p>\n

The Red Cross has sent thousands of cold weather items to people in New York and New Jersey, and supporting some warming centers in the area.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Beth Dewald in Jamestown says, more Red Cross volunteers are needed to serve in those eastern areas.<\/p>\n

She pointed out that the best donations are that of cash, which is used at the sites to purchase needed items.<\/p>\n

For more information on donations, to volunteer, or lean more about area disaster preparedness training, contact the Buffalo Valley Red Cross Chapter in Jamestown at 252-3550.<\/p>\n

She also stressed that disasters such as the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy points to the continuing need for disaster preparedness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News Nov 8, 2012) — Local Red Cross volunteer, Dave Smette, is still serving meals to those displaced by Superstorm Sandy. Red Cross Buffalo Valley Chapter, Manager, Beth Dewald in Jamestown set up a telephone opportunity for the local media, on Thursday, at the Red Cross Jamestown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-jamestown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6976"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6979,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976\/revisions\/6979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}