Red Cross partners with organizations for flood assistance

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Red Cross has partnered up with different organizations to help with post-flood recovery efforts.

One of these organizations is the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in efforts to help children whose homes were impacted.

Partnerships like this help organizations know what areas still need help and discover new ones.

Kayla Gonzalez, who is the executive director for the American Red Cross South Texas Chapter, says the need is non-stop.

“The need right now is ongoing as I know there was four counties that were highly impacted, so right now we are focusing on what we can do to fulfill the needs of the community," Gonzalez said.

She adds that they are still finding new areas that need assistance.

“We have seen a lot of homes that were impacted, and you know there are different areas, colonias, so right now we have a team trying to identify those colonias to help those that were highly impacted," Gonzalez adds.

The Red Cross is also partnering with local organizations like Harlingen CISD's Clothing Closet to provide families cleaning supplies.

The donated bucket kits have items like gloves, trash bags, cleaning solution, a mop and a broom.

Harlingen CISD Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Director Sylvia Gonzalez says the need is widespread.

“We had 150 but prior to that we with some of the monies that were donated made some buckets ourselves because we needed this urgent need to help families right away, so we did have our relief bus go out to different communities and were able to give out cleaning supplies, food and clothes to some of our families out there," Sylvia Gonzalez said.

The Children’s Closet is also be offering extended hours this week as they normally only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This week, they will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday to assist anyone in need.

They hope this helps people pick up supplies, clothing and shoes they might need for their children.

Sylvia Gonzalez also reports an uptick in community donations since the flood, even from people who also saw damage in their own homes.

“Just recently with the flood and the higher demand of people in need were able to get more people at this time and moment to come and donate and help our families," Sylvia Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez says many volunteers from outside the Rio Grande Valley have also been deployed to the region. The Red Cross has events planned for all four Valley counties in the coming days.

“This week every single day," Gonzalez said. “We have identified many of them but there is still some that are a little hidden, and we are reaching out to those individuals to see how we can support them.”

Gonzalez says anybody in need can call them at 1-800-RED-CROSS to get assistance. People can also volunteer by calling that number.