Aired January 26, 2025: Lisa Foxx talks to Sean Inoue, the Executive Director of the American Red Cross, Western LA all about their response to the devastating LA Wildfires. They discuss all the ways they are offering immediate and long-term relief to thousands of Angelinos who have been directly affected. They are also in need of blood and monetary donations.
RED CROSS RESPONSE Hundreds of Red Crossers are providing support in California for those coping with the wildfires, including some 450 people staying in emergency shelters. So far, the Red Cross has provided more than 14,500 overnight stays in shelters and, with our partners, more than 128,000 meals and snacks. As communities reopen, Red Crossers are there with support including cleaning supplies, flashlights, face masks, gloves, water and other essentials. More than 102,000 relief items have already been provided.
The Red Cross is providing financial assistance to residents who lived within the fire perimeters of Eaton, Palisades, Hurst, and Kenneth as defined by Cal OES. If you receive a call, text or email from the Red Cross, please follow the instructions provided in the message. If you lived within the fire perimeters and aren’t sure you received a message, please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to sign up. To learn more about financial assistance, please visit redcross.org/gethelp.
HOW YOU CAN HELP Help people affected by disasters like storms and countless other crises by making a gift to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your donation enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from these disasters.
The combination of wildfires and dangerous winter weather has led to Red Cross blood drive cancelations and the loss of several thousand lifesaving blood donations. Donors of all blood types — particularly type O negative blood donors and those giving platelets — are needed to help save lives. Where it is safe to do so, we encourage people to schedule a blood donation appointment by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
RED CROSS RESPONSE Hundreds of Red Crossers are providing support in California for those coping with the wildfires, including some 450 people staying in emergency shelters. So far, the Red Cross has provided more than 14,500 overnight stays in shelters and, with our partners, more than 128,000 meals and snacks. As communities reopen, Red Crossers are there with support including cleaning supplies, flashlights, face masks, gloves, water and other essentials. More than 102,000 relief items have already been provided.
The Red Cross is providing financial assistance to residents who lived within the fire perimeters of Eaton, Palisades, Hurst, and Kenneth as defined by Cal OES. If you receive a call, text or email from the Red Cross, please follow the instructions provided in the message. If you lived within the fire perimeters and aren’t sure you received a message, please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to sign up. To learn more about financial assistance, please visit redcross.org/gethelp.
HOW YOU CAN HELP Help people affected by disasters like storms and countless other crises by making a gift to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your donation enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from these disasters.
The combination of wildfires and dangerous winter weather has led to Red Cross blood drive cancelations and the loss of several thousand lifesaving blood donations. Donors of all blood types — particularly type O negative blood donors and those giving platelets — are needed to help save lives. Where it is safe to do so, we encourage people to schedule a blood donation appointment by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi is Lisa Fox, and this is the iHeart So
Cal show or show that push the spotlight on charitable organizations,
nonprofits and people giving back. But now we're putting the
spotlight on our fellow Angelina. So many people of thousands
directly affected and displaced by these terrible fires that just
happened that has forever changed so many lives. I'm grateful
(00:20):
to have my friends sewn on from the Red Cross
who they've been working non stop since all this chaos began,
and I just wanted to chat with him about all
that's been happening. Hi, Sean, Hey Lisa, Hey, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I a you know, here to serve so another day
of service. My gosh, I'm safe.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you so much for making time to do this.
I know, like normally normally this is a Sean in
a way, by the way, with the he's the executive
director of the American Red Cross Western Region of Southern California.
And now I saw in your email signature out at
your executive director duties. You're the deputy Red Cross Coordinating
officer for the LA Wildfires. So it's it's a lot
(01:00):
and you know, normally, Sean, we have our January conversation
to promote the January's Blood Doner Awareness Month and say
we need blood now more than ever in January and
if you do that, you'll be into a trip to
the Big Game and super Bowl and kind of like
lighter fun. Please go get blood. And then everything changed
January seventh, Everything change.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, you're not wrong, and I know that you were
directly impacted by that too, So yeah, I'm so sorry, Hope.
I'm glad your family's will be safe.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yes, the boyfriend and I are safe and grateful we
have a place to live, you know. I mean, it's
just it's so many, thousands of people. So I want
to ask you about how does it change? How did
it change for you? Because literally I got to bounce
back email from you saying, you know, you're deployed, you're
in the trenches. So what happens What does the Red
Cross do in direct response when something this horrible happens?
(01:49):
You know, it ended up being thousands, as we know,
in the Palisades area and then the Alted in it
and Pattina area, So it's so much happening at one time.
What happens to a I like you and the folks
at the Red Cross on a day like January seventh
and beyond.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, first, I appreciate the check in. I know we're
all triaging in operation right now, so you know, when
this happens, we kind of have a little bit of
advanced notice. So we knew that the PBS was happening
in a particularly dangerous situation.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
With the winds.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, with the winds right, And so when that happens,
we typically will preposition both assets things like shelter trailers
and set up pre disaster shifts of volunteers to stand
up a shelter just in case we need to. So
we do that in collaboration with the city, the county,
our state partners. And that's what you saw mobilize in
those first few hours when that fire broke out that morning.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So suddenly it's like your phone's blown up, it's emails,
it's texting. You guys are this is kind of what
you do the Red Cross in terms of crisis, and
you're already prepared to handle the worst, even when you
know we're watching it unfold on TV and hearing it
on the radio. We're thinking, okay, might be a few
houses up in the hills, not sure, and then hour
by hour by hour of progress into just an even
(03:02):
bigger nightmare for folks and Palisades, and later on the
Eaton fire for folks in Altadna, and too big for
us to comprehend as it was happening, as it unfolded
over the course of a handful of days, forever changing
thousands of lives in within twenty four to forty eight hours.
And then you guys are up and running in work
(03:23):
mode on it and setting up shelters, ready to help people.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah. I remember driving in to Santa Monica that morning
and just seeing a very small trail of smoke, and
with these winds, we know that this is going straight
to the ocean. Right, there's nothing you can do to
really stop the progression of that fire. That's really why
you saw the focus from fire command on preventing loss
of life and preventing any structure damage they could with
(03:49):
these winds going up to one hundred mouths per hour,
it is just it takes its own life, right.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I know, when you go to the website Redcross dot
org slash la, there's a wealth of information about shelters
that Red Cross shelters that are open currently. I mean
we're two, you know, plus weeks into this nightmare, and
there's a list there all the ways that you were
helping people where the shelters are, but talk about how
you are actively helping people who've been displaced and deeply
(04:16):
directly affected by these terrible fires.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah. So during what we call the response part of
this disaster, it's really focused on primary shelter, emergency shelter, feeding,
physical and emotional comfort, including things like medical needs. With
our partners, right, so we had local healthcare providers Ecaily Health, Kaiser, ultimed,
the International Medical coal come out and support these folks
(04:39):
that are shelters. We launched our financial assistance program faster
than any other operation that we've done in our history.
Look at that essentially, what that means people if they
were in the fire perimeter, regardless of whether or not
their home was destroyed, they're the only house standing on
their block. They're in an evacuation neighborhood that wasn't directly
impacted by the fire, but they had to for a week. Yeah,
(05:01):
they are all eligible for direct financial systems. So we
want folks to know about that. It comes via text message.
We're so grateful people are being cautious for things like scams,
but you should know if they're getting a text message
from the Red Cross it is real. They can double
check it by either calling one hundred Red Cross to
get that financial assistance or red Cross dot org slash
(05:22):
get help. It's a very simple form. We're not going
to ask for bank account information and it's going to
we're going to distribute funds directly to you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay. That is good to know because I literally got
one right before we started talking, Sean. I literally got
one that said, uh, you know, it's my boyfriend's child
at home that's no longer with us. But I'm getting
spam that says your financial aid is ready. Click here
for the elle weal if are your financial aid is here.
I'm like, I haven't feeled out anything. So there's so
many scams and so many ways that people are trying
(05:50):
to do some tricky stuff right now, really shady stuff. So,
but the Red Cross texts are real. Now, how would
you so how would you already have their information?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Then?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Because you know the zip code, the how does that happen?
How do you know their cell phone numbers?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So we have a system where we use the fire
perimeter right, and we have contact information that's associated with
addresses within that fire perimeter, and so we send out
just mass text messages right now, we don't expect to
reach everyone that way. If there are multi generational households,
if folks you know have moved and their information may
not be accurate. So that's why we're promoting the Red
(06:24):
Cross dot org flash get Help website or one hundred
Red Cross. And if you're not sure if that text
message is real or not, we have guidance on our
website and what you by calling that number to verify
that that is in fact from the American Red Cross.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So when people donate, because I've also seen some things
online too where people say, if you've donate to the
Red Cross, it may not be going to the LA wildfires.
How do they know? Because you know, you're pretty big
worldwide organization, the Red Cross, How did people know what
they want to donate that it's going to specifically to
help people struggling after the LA wildfires.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, first of all, we want to put h thank
you out there for two reasons. One, the outpouring of
support has been profound. Right. People have been shown up
with time, money, and blood, which is why this is
important too. People can designate directly to the western wildfires
to know that it will be spent specifically on this operation,
or people who can give to where it's neated most.
(07:18):
And either way, we're grateful because they're trusting us with
their dollars deliver missions the people who need it. And
it is an honor to be in that position. And
I am so proud of the work that we're doing
because of the power of our volunteers and our donors.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And so I'm assuming, right, I mean, you always need
the Red Cross, always needs volunteers, but especially now, my gosh,
And so where would the volunteers be focused at these
these shelters?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, so shelters. We're also doing something called community engagement
and partnership outreach. We only have six hundred people in shelters.
I don't mean to minimize that population. We know that
tens of thousands of people have been displaced. They may
not want to stay to shelter, but can still get
services from both US and our partnering agencies. We know
that at only about fifteen hundred of these households have
(08:03):
utilized what's called FEMA's TSA program, right they're essentially their
hoteling program for emergency shelter. So we know there are
people in friends and family programs. They may be in
two on one's Airbnb program. So we're doing rapid outreach
those folks so they know what resources are available to them.
But we've got to remember we're two weeks into this.
People may not be ready to talk about recovery. They
(08:25):
still may just be dealing with the trauma of what's
happened in the last two weeks. Absolutely, we're really trying
to meet people where they're at.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And you know, and there's so much work to be
done in these neighborhoods that have been you know, leveled, leveled,
you know, the debris and the clean out the toxic debris.
I mean, it's we all know it's a long road
ahead for so many neighborhoods and so many people and
so but the Red Cross, I mean, you're not going anywhere,
(08:51):
like you said, so you're in this to help people
for the long the long haul. It might be the
next year or two, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Are a minimum we're looking at. Rebuilding these communities is
going to take years. Yeah, yeah, if not a decade, right,
you just mentioned it we're talking about making sure with
our partnering agencies, either on the city, state, or the
federal level. Right folks are making sure that before both
can go back, that there's not toxic remediation that needs
to be done, that the water is safe to clean
(09:18):
or they're telling folks that it's not safe and they
have to do that. There's that boil only order for
a little while. Yeah, I saw that DDVP has been
fantastic about doing clean water distributions in those areas. City
partners all these pop up groups that have just collected
in kind donations and are distributing it at different locations
throughout the city. But you know, we're we're talking years
(09:38):
and people aren't going to be able to go back
to their homes. Even if their home there is no
single home, single home that is safe on their block.
There may be other factors there that preventent's been going back,
and that's got to be frustrating for folks.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But yeah, we know from talking services, we know from
talking to our neighbors. It's it's no badge of honor.
You know, we hoped and prayed that Eric's house would
be spared, but now it's no you know, no houses
on his block were spared. The state in which any
surviving home is in, it'll be in, what is it
uninhabitable for the foreseeable future for a number of reasons.
(10:12):
And say, you get it all cleaned and it's okay
to go back months and months from now, but what
are you going. The neighborhood is still desolated, So it's
still very depressing until the time is right, until we
can clean it out, until we get stronger mentally, emotionally, physically,
and really, you know, just I guess stick together is
really the best way to try to put it out there, right,
(10:33):
stick together and slowly start to rebuild the community as
a whole. It's just it's gonna take it's gonna take
a while, and I just don't know that any of
us are ready for that. But people have no choice.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's you know, people are traumatized on all these different scales. Right.
There's the directly lost your home in my neighborhood. There's
the secondary degree. Everybody watching this unsold in our city
on TV, we all know somebody who's been impacted. Yeah,
and then there's the tertiary folks across the nation, across
the globe who are seeing this and they want to help.
It's a big part of their healing to provide service
(11:08):
and help our community. Heal right, Yeah, it's going to
take a long time.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And I know also from talking to friends. You know,
the kids have been affected. You know, so many young
people and the kids they got through COVID and now
here comes this. You know, my goddaughter who's fifteen, her
school survived, Marrimount High School is fine, but her friends,
her friends who went to other high schools, not as lucky.
And it's just trying to find ways to work together,
(11:33):
stay together. Dare I say, stay positive? You know, Eric
and I the boyfriend, we are just literally our new
motto is one day to time, one day to time,
because to try to tackle it all, it's beyond overwhelming.
And we just say we try to focus on the
positives that we do have, which is each other, and
know that there's all these resources like the Red Cross
(11:54):
and so many that are offering help, and you know,
just hanging in there and just taking this all on
one day at a time.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's it. And you mentioned something really important, right, The
Red Cross is right, sort, the Red Cross is you,
It's our neighbors, right, ninety percent of the people doing
this work are volunteers from our own community. From our community,
it's neighboring states that have flown in to help out Right,
We've got about twelve thousand people in our volunteer queue
that we're working on making sure they're mobilized into serving
(12:23):
their own neighbors as a part of their healing and
as a part of service. Hold on to this. It
is going to be a marathon, right, and it is
really easy to get distracted or overwhelmed. But as you mentioned,
one day at a time, we're going to learn more
information about needs in our community. We're going to work
with our partners, both local, state, federal, and our community
(12:44):
based organizations so that this is truly community led and
Red Cross supported for recovery.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Thank you for that, And I will say this too
on what Eric is doing. And I'm keeping I'm working
and staying busy at work, trying to do I used
to do happy radio, now I'm trying to do at
least comforting, comforting radio. Comforting radio. I only cry. I
try to cry before the show or during commercials. And
you know, the crying is getting a little, you know,
not less and less, but I'm getting a little more.
(13:11):
I'm getting a better grip on it as time goes on.
And we have Eric staying busy delivering meals with Project's
Angel Food. So if you've been directly affected by these fires,
staying busy can also you know, turn the TV off,
don't watch any more coverage and just even the idea
of even other fires popping up to see the flames
(13:31):
on TV as too much. So turn off, stay distracted,
and volunteering and giving back is keeping him busy and
helping us build a little collateral here, a little mental
emotional collateral, if that makes sense. It's helping him stay strong.
Knowing he's in with good people doing good things for others,
He's kind of helping a little bit too. So if
(13:52):
folks want to volunteer with the Red Cross, how easy
is that? How do we do it? We just go
to Redcross dot org slash get help, or which way
do we go to volunteer?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's it, just red Cross dot org s flash volunteer,
or you can just go to the Red Cross dot
org home page and find an opportunity near you and
typing the zip code a laundry list of open positions
will come up, disaster shelter associates, shelter residents, transitions. There's
a description under there. We'll do a small background check
and then get you oriented as quickly as.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Possible and sean any paid Red Cross positions available. I
mean a lot of people's source of income were directly
affected by these fires. I mean maybe people also needed
a new way to make money and get a job
and to get paid for helping people. That could be
kind of great.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, So if you go to the bottom of er
of a page on the career sections, we're always hiring
humanitarians to do this work across the nation. This is
going to be a very dynamic situation, so things might
pop up. That's the best place to go to look
for employment opportunities for humanitarian work.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And of course we have to give a shout out
to our ongoing passion to donate blood. As you know,
Eric and I are regular donors. We will well especially
make sure we give this month in light of what's happened,
but also because selfishly we do want to win that
trip to the super Bowl. Please pick us, no, please,
I'd like to think we got a good chance here
in California. People who give it is a nationwide things.
(15:14):
But anyone giving blood, did we need extra blood because
of what happened or how does that part of it work?
We always need flat So.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Not just yeah, you said it right, Not just because
of the impact here from the southern California wildfires, right,
both the people who have been displaced who are donors,
the blood drivers we've had to cancel. But now this
weather on the east coast right that is causing blood
drives to shut down. People aren't supposed to leave their homes,
so the inventory is going to continue to be impacted
(15:43):
and patients are going to still need that every day. Yep.
So if you're an area safe, if you're one of
those listeners who's like, ah, I've been waiting to go
give blood. Follow Lisa and her boyfriend, go and roll
up those sleeves.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And I mean, you know, if you're able to give blood.
There's a few people that aren't able to give blood.
But if you are, you knowail the needle thing, it's
like over and ten minutes. You know, the questionnaire you
can do online. Knock out your questionnaire, pick a location.
It's so easy to find a location. Your issue that's
doing to drive and Red Cross official blood donor centers
and drives happening all over town. So it's easy to
(16:16):
find a spot near you, right just by going to
the website and typing in your zip code.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, I'm an app guy. I like the app. Yeah,
blood donor app. Type in the zip code, one click
in my appointment set. Yeah, it shows me all my
blood donation histories, where my blood goes. Yeah. Thank you
for bringing this to people's attention because it is still
a daily, hourly every two seconds, someone needs someone's in blood.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So we need your blood, we need your love, we
need your monetary donations and your volunteer time. All the
info and thank you Sean anyway, thank you so much
for all that you are doing. You've ben entrench in
this whole thing with the evacuees and just front and
center in the trenches. So thank you for everything you
and everyone at the Red Cross is doing to have
to help people get through the worst but pretty bad one.
(17:04):
This is up there. This is pretty bad, So thank
you for what you guys are doing.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And it's an honor to serve our community. Here's what
we train for.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Thank you for that, and we encourage you to get
involved and support the Red Cross, like we said, donating blood,
volunteering or even attempting to get hired and get paid
to help the Red Cross. All the info at Redcross
dot org, Redcross dot org slash la, red Cross dot
org slash la for more. Is that the best website,
right that one red Cross dot organ is ite.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you know, Lisa, thank you, thank your listeners for
everything they're doing. This is going to be a long recovery,
so continue the care and solidary that we've been seeing
across the city and county. It's going to be needed
for the years to come.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Sean, we need big hugs in our future. Big hugs.
Hugging is like top priority these days. Hugs go a
long way. Hugs are hugs your back, Hugs are in,
hugs are cool. Hugs are needed. And I implore anyone
listening to a hug away and offer that moment for
anyone that needs a hug, because it's needed now more
than ever. Yeah, thank you, thank you so much, Sean.
(18:06):
I really appreciate you making time and hopefully we'll connect
to some point soon, but thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I really really appreciate you, of course, and thank you
be safe,
Hi is Lisa Fox, and this is the iHeart So
Cal show or show that push the spotlight on charitable organizations,
nonprofits and people giving back. But now we're putting the
spotlight on our fellow Angelina. So many people of thousands
directly affected and displaced by these terrible fires that just
happened that has forever changed so many lives. I'm grateful
(00:20):
to have my friends sewn on from the Red Cross
who they've been working non stop since all this chaos began,
and I just wanted to chat with him about all
that's been happening. Hi, Sean, Hey Lisa, Hey, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I a you know, here to serve so another day
of service. My gosh, I'm safe.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you so much for making time to do this.
I know, like normally normally this is a Sean in
a way, by the way, with the he's the executive
director of the American Red Cross Western Region of Southern California.
And now I saw in your email signature out at
your executive director duties. You're the deputy Red Cross Coordinating
officer for the LA Wildfires. So it's it's a lot
(01:00):
and you know, normally, Sean, we have our January conversation
to promote the January's Blood Doner Awareness Month and say
we need blood now more than ever in January and
if you do that, you'll be into a trip to
the Big Game and super Bowl and kind of like
lighter fun. Please go get blood. And then everything changed
January seventh, Everything change.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, you're not wrong, and I know that you were
directly impacted by that too, So yeah, I'm so sorry, Hope.
I'm glad your family's will be safe.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yes, the boyfriend and I are safe and grateful we
have a place to live, you know. I mean, it's
just it's so many, thousands of people. So I want
to ask you about how does it change? How did
it change for you? Because literally I got to bounce
back email from you saying, you know, you're deployed, you're
in the trenches. So what happens What does the Red
Cross do in direct response when something this horrible happens?
(01:49):
You know, it ended up being thousands, as we know,
in the Palisades area and then the Alted in it
and Pattina area, So it's so much happening at one time.
What happens to a I like you and the folks
at the Red Cross on a day like January seventh
and beyond.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, first, I appreciate the check in. I know we're
all triaging in operation right now, so you know, when
this happens, we kind of have a little bit of
advanced notice. So we knew that the PBS was happening
in a particularly dangerous situation.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
With the winds.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, with the winds right, And so when that happens,
we typically will preposition both assets things like shelter trailers
and set up pre disaster shifts of volunteers to stand
up a shelter just in case we need to. So
we do that in collaboration with the city, the county,
our state partners. And that's what you saw mobilize in
those first few hours when that fire broke out that morning.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So suddenly it's like your phone's blown up, it's emails,
it's texting. You guys are this is kind of what
you do the Red Cross in terms of crisis, and
you're already prepared to handle the worst, even when you
know we're watching it unfold on TV and hearing it
on the radio. We're thinking, okay, might be a few
houses up in the hills, not sure, and then hour
by hour by hour of progress into just an even
(03:02):
bigger nightmare for folks and Palisades, and later on the
Eaton fire for folks in Altadna, and too big for
us to comprehend as it was happening, as it unfolded
over the course of a handful of days, forever changing
thousands of lives in within twenty four to forty eight hours.
And then you guys are up and running in work
(03:23):
mode on it and setting up shelters, ready to help people.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah. I remember driving in to Santa Monica that morning
and just seeing a very small trail of smoke, and
with these winds, we know that this is going straight
to the ocean. Right, there's nothing you can do to
really stop the progression of that fire. That's really why
you saw the focus from fire command on preventing loss
of life and preventing any structure damage they could with
(03:49):
these winds going up to one hundred mouths per hour,
it is just it takes its own life, right.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I know, when you go to the website Redcross dot
org slash la, there's a wealth of information about shelters
that Red Cross shelters that are open currently. I mean
we're two, you know, plus weeks into this nightmare, and
there's a list there all the ways that you were
helping people where the shelters are, but talk about how
you are actively helping people who've been displaced and deeply
(04:16):
directly affected by these terrible fires.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah. So during what we call the response part of
this disaster, it's really focused on primary shelter, emergency shelter, feeding,
physical and emotional comfort, including things like medical needs. With
our partners, right, so we had local healthcare providers Ecaily Health, Kaiser, ultimed,
the International Medical coal come out and support these folks
(04:39):
that are shelters. We launched our financial assistance program faster
than any other operation that we've done in our history.
Look at that essentially, what that means people if they
were in the fire perimeter, regardless of whether or not
their home was destroyed, they're the only house standing on
their block. They're in an evacuation neighborhood that wasn't directly
impacted by the fire, but they had to for a week. Yeah,
(05:01):
they are all eligible for direct financial systems. So we
want folks to know about that. It comes via text message.
We're so grateful people are being cautious for things like scams,
but you should know if they're getting a text message
from the Red Cross it is real. They can double
check it by either calling one hundred Red Cross to
get that financial assistance or red Cross dot org slash
(05:22):
get help. It's a very simple form. We're not going
to ask for bank account information and it's going to
we're going to distribute funds directly to you.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay. That is good to know because I literally got
one right before we started talking, Sean. I literally got
one that said, uh, you know, it's my boyfriend's child
at home that's no longer with us. But I'm getting
spam that says your financial aid is ready. Click here
for the elle weal if are your financial aid is here.
I'm like, I haven't feeled out anything. So there's so
many scams and so many ways that people are trying
(05:50):
to do some tricky stuff right now, really shady stuff. So,
but the Red Cross texts are real. Now, how would
you so how would you already have their information?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Then?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Because you know the zip code, the how does that happen?
How do you know their cell phone numbers?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So we have a system where we use the fire
perimeter right, and we have contact information that's associated with
addresses within that fire perimeter, and so we send out
just mass text messages right now, we don't expect to
reach everyone that way. If there are multi generational households,
if folks you know have moved and their information may
not be accurate. So that's why we're promoting the Red
(06:24):
Cross dot org flash get Help website or one hundred
Red Cross. And if you're not sure if that text
message is real or not, we have guidance on our
website and what you by calling that number to verify
that that is in fact from the American Red Cross.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So when people donate, because I've also seen some things
online too where people say, if you've donate to the
Red Cross, it may not be going to the LA wildfires.
How do they know? Because you know, you're pretty big
worldwide organization, the Red Cross, How did people know what
they want to donate that it's going to specifically to
help people struggling after the LA wildfires.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, first of all, we want to put h thank
you out there for two reasons. One, the outpouring of
support has been profound. Right. People have been shown up
with time, money, and blood, which is why this is
important too. People can designate directly to the western wildfires
to know that it will be spent specifically on this operation,
or people who can give to where it's neated most.
(07:18):
And either way, we're grateful because they're trusting us with
their dollars deliver missions the people who need it. And
it is an honor to be in that position. And
I am so proud of the work that we're doing
because of the power of our volunteers and our donors.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And so I'm assuming, right, I mean, you always need
the Red Cross, always needs volunteers, but especially now, my gosh,
And so where would the volunteers be focused at these
these shelters?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, so shelters. We're also doing something called community engagement
and partnership outreach. We only have six hundred people in shelters.
I don't mean to minimize that population. We know that
tens of thousands of people have been displaced. They may
not want to stay to shelter, but can still get
services from both US and our partnering agencies. We know
that at only about fifteen hundred of these households have
(08:03):
utilized what's called FEMA's TSA program, right they're essentially their
hoteling program for emergency shelter. So we know there are
people in friends and family programs. They may be in
two on one's Airbnb program. So we're doing rapid outreach
those folks so they know what resources are available to them.
But we've got to remember we're two weeks into this.
People may not be ready to talk about recovery. They
(08:25):
still may just be dealing with the trauma of what's
happened in the last two weeks. Absolutely, we're really trying
to meet people where they're at.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And you know, and there's so much work to be
done in these neighborhoods that have been you know, leveled, leveled,
you know, the debris and the clean out the toxic debris.
I mean, it's we all know it's a long road
ahead for so many neighborhoods and so many people and
so but the Red Cross, I mean, you're not going anywhere,
(08:51):
like you said, so you're in this to help people
for the long the long haul. It might be the
next year or two, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Are a minimum we're looking at. Rebuilding these communities is
going to take years. Yeah, yeah, if not a decade, right,
you just mentioned it we're talking about making sure with
our partnering agencies, either on the city, state, or the
federal level. Right folks are making sure that before both
can go back, that there's not toxic remediation that needs
to be done, that the water is safe to clean
(09:18):
or they're telling folks that it's not safe and they
have to do that. There's that boil only order for
a little while. Yeah, I saw that DDVP has been
fantastic about doing clean water distributions in those areas. City
partners all these pop up groups that have just collected
in kind donations and are distributing it at different locations
throughout the city. But you know, we're we're talking years
(09:38):
and people aren't going to be able to go back
to their homes. Even if their home there is no
single home, single home that is safe on their block.
There may be other factors there that preventent's been going back,
and that's got to be frustrating for folks.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But yeah, we know from talking services, we know from
talking to our neighbors. It's it's no badge of honor.
You know, we hoped and prayed that Eric's house would
be spared, but now it's no you know, no houses
on his block were spared. The state in which any
surviving home is in, it'll be in, what is it
uninhabitable for the foreseeable future for a number of reasons.
(10:12):
And say, you get it all cleaned and it's okay
to go back months and months from now, but what
are you going. The neighborhood is still desolated, So it's
still very depressing until the time is right, until we
can clean it out, until we get stronger mentally, emotionally, physically,
and really, you know, just I guess stick together is
really the best way to try to put it out there, right,
(10:33):
stick together and slowly start to rebuild the community as
a whole. It's just it's gonna take it's gonna take
a while, and I just don't know that any of
us are ready for that. But people have no choice.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's you know, people are traumatized on all these different scales. Right.
There's the directly lost your home in my neighborhood. There's
the secondary degree. Everybody watching this unsold in our city
on TV, we all know somebody who's been impacted. Yeah,
and then there's the tertiary folks across the nation, across
the globe who are seeing this and they want to help.
It's a big part of their healing to provide service
(11:08):
and help our community. Heal right, Yeah, it's going to
take a long time.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And I know also from talking to friends. You know,
the kids have been affected. You know, so many young
people and the kids they got through COVID and now
here comes this. You know, my goddaughter who's fifteen, her
school survived, Marrimount High School is fine, but her friends,
her friends who went to other high schools, not as lucky.
And it's just trying to find ways to work together,
(11:33):
stay together. Dare I say, stay positive? You know, Eric
and I the boyfriend, we are just literally our new
motto is one day to time, one day to time,
because to try to tackle it all, it's beyond overwhelming.
And we just say we try to focus on the
positives that we do have, which is each other, and
know that there's all these resources like the Red Cross
(11:54):
and so many that are offering help, and you know,
just hanging in there and just taking this all on
one day at a time.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's it. And you mentioned something really important, right, The
Red Cross is right, sort, the Red Cross is you,
It's our neighbors, right, ninety percent of the people doing
this work are volunteers from our own community. From our community,
it's neighboring states that have flown in to help out Right,
We've got about twelve thousand people in our volunteer queue
that we're working on making sure they're mobilized into serving
(12:23):
their own neighbors as a part of their healing and
as a part of service. Hold on to this. It
is going to be a marathon, right, and it is
really easy to get distracted or overwhelmed. But as you mentioned,
one day at a time, we're going to learn more
information about needs in our community. We're going to work
with our partners, both local, state, federal, and our community
(12:44):
based organizations so that this is truly community led and
Red Cross supported for recovery.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Thank you for that, And I will say this too
on what Eric is doing. And I'm keeping I'm working
and staying busy at work, trying to do I used
to do happy radio, now I'm trying to do at
least comforting, comforting radio. Comforting radio. I only cry. I
try to cry before the show or during commercials. And
you know, the crying is getting a little, you know,
not less and less, but I'm getting a little more.
(13:11):
I'm getting a better grip on it as time goes on.
And we have Eric staying busy delivering meals with Project's
Angel Food. So if you've been directly affected by these fires,
staying busy can also you know, turn the TV off,
don't watch any more coverage and just even the idea
of even other fires popping up to see the flames
(13:31):
on TV as too much. So turn off, stay distracted,
and volunteering and giving back is keeping him busy and
helping us build a little collateral here, a little mental
emotional collateral, if that makes sense. It's helping him stay strong.
Knowing he's in with good people doing good things for others,
He's kind of helping a little bit too. So if
(13:52):
folks want to volunteer with the Red Cross, how easy
is that? How do we do it? We just go
to Redcross dot org slash get help, or which way
do we go to volunteer?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's it, just red Cross dot org s flash volunteer,
or you can just go to the Red Cross dot
org home page and find an opportunity near you and
typing the zip code a laundry list of open positions
will come up, disaster shelter associates, shelter residents, transitions. There's
a description under there. We'll do a small background check
and then get you oriented as quickly as.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Possible and sean any paid Red Cross positions available. I
mean a lot of people's source of income were directly
affected by these fires. I mean maybe people also needed
a new way to make money and get a job
and to get paid for helping people. That could be
kind of great.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, So if you go to the bottom of er
of a page on the career sections, we're always hiring
humanitarians to do this work across the nation. This is
going to be a very dynamic situation, so things might
pop up. That's the best place to go to look
for employment opportunities for humanitarian work.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And of course we have to give a shout out
to our ongoing passion to donate blood. As you know,
Eric and I are regular donors. We will well especially
make sure we give this month in light of what's happened,
but also because selfishly we do want to win that
trip to the super Bowl. Please pick us, no, please,
I'd like to think we got a good chance here
in California. People who give it is a nationwide things.
(15:14):
But anyone giving blood, did we need extra blood because
of what happened or how does that part of it work?
We always need flat So.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Not just yeah, you said it right, Not just because
of the impact here from the southern California wildfires, right,
both the people who have been displaced who are donors,
the blood drivers we've had to cancel. But now this
weather on the east coast right that is causing blood
drives to shut down. People aren't supposed to leave their homes,
so the inventory is going to continue to be impacted
(15:43):
and patients are going to still need that every day. Yep.
So if you're an area safe, if you're one of
those listeners who's like, ah, I've been waiting to go
give blood. Follow Lisa and her boyfriend, go and roll
up those sleeves.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And I mean, you know, if you're able to give blood.
There's a few people that aren't able to give blood.
But if you are, you knowail the needle thing, it's
like over and ten minutes. You know, the questionnaire you
can do online. Knock out your questionnaire, pick a location.
It's so easy to find a location. Your issue that's
doing to drive and Red Cross official blood donor centers
and drives happening all over town. So it's easy to
(16:16):
find a spot near you, right just by going to
the website and typing in your zip code.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, I'm an app guy. I like the app. Yeah,
blood donor app. Type in the zip code, one click
in my appointment set. Yeah, it shows me all my
blood donation histories, where my blood goes. Yeah. Thank you
for bringing this to people's attention because it is still
a daily, hourly every two seconds, someone needs someone's in blood.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So we need your blood, we need your love, we
need your monetary donations and your volunteer time. All the
info and thank you Sean anyway, thank you so much
for all that you are doing. You've ben entrench in
this whole thing with the evacuees and just front and
center in the trenches. So thank you for everything you
and everyone at the Red Cross is doing to have
to help people get through the worst but pretty bad one.
(17:04):
This is up there. This is pretty bad, So thank
you for what you guys are doing.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
And it's an honor to serve our community. Here's what
we train for.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Thank you for that, and we encourage you to get
involved and support the Red Cross, like we said, donating blood,
volunteering or even attempting to get hired and get paid
to help the Red Cross. All the info at Redcross
dot org, Redcross dot org slash la, red Cross dot
org slash la for more. Is that the best website,
right that one red Cross dot organ is ite.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you know, Lisa, thank you, thank your listeners for
everything they're doing. This is going to be a long recovery,
so continue the care and solidary that we've been seeing
across the city and county. It's going to be needed
for the years to come.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Sean, we need big hugs in our future. Big hugs.
Hugging is like top priority these days. Hugs go a
long way. Hugs are hugs your back, Hugs are in,
hugs are cool. Hugs are needed. And I implore anyone
listening to a hug away and offer that moment for
anyone that needs a hug, because it's needed now more
than ever. Yeah, thank you, thank you so much, Sean.
(18:06):
I really appreciate you making time and hopefully we'll connect
to some point soon, but thank you for doing this.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I really really appreciate you, of course, and thank you
be safe,
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