American Red Cross volunteers pack snack bags for evacuees staying at an American Red Cross shelter, in Salem, OR (Justin Kern)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — The Red Cross had a busy evening Tuesday night as over a dozen people were displaced in two house fires in Green Bay and Oshkosh.
Seven people, including three children, were displaced in a fire in the 900 block of Day Street in Green Bay and six people, including four children were impacted by another fire in the 3400 block of Logan Drive in Oshkosh.
Red Cross spokesman Justin Kern says they’re doing everything they can to help.
“What the red cross typically does is provide initial assistance for those essentials, those basics,” Kern told WTAQ. “We’re really making sure all those folks have somewhere to stay for the next few days, usually at a hotel.”
Kern calls it standard procedure, and that following up is part of the plan.
“We make sure between us and our partners that that folks are headed in the right direction,” said Kern. “Even after they’ve experienced what, for some of them, is the worst day of their entire lives.”
Kern says the Red Cross comes to families in need who often are having a hard time understanding what’s happened. Providing not just financial support, but also mental health counseling.
“Usually [they’re experiencing] a lot of shock,” said Kern. “No one is expecting that a fire is going to happen to them, especially with an apartment building, and especially if it happens in a unit that’s not even your unit.”
The Red Cross’s work is financed through donations and volunteers coordinate the help.
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