P.E.I. Red Cross needs volunteers in Prince and Kings Counties

The P.E.I. Red Cross has plenty of volunteers in Queens County, but only three in the west and 10 in the east.

That inhibits the organization's ability to respond quickly to people in crisis, says disaster management coordinator Alanna Green.

"We always make sure there's at least two volunteers to every response," Green told Kerry Campbell of CBC News: Compass.

"So having more volunteers in those areas would mean we'd be able to more quickly respond to those types of incidents."

Provincial and national disasters

The Red Cross has about 50 volunteers across the Island whorespond to small-scale floods, fires and other disasters affecting families.

Some deploy nationwide for bigger disasters, such as the flooding in New Brunswick earlier this year.

"Our volunteers will sit down with the [people] who have been affected. They would then provide food, clothing and shelter for the first 72 hours," Green said.

'It's so impactful'

It's a rewarding job, Green said.

"It's so impactful to be able to provide those services to those people who really aren't sure where to go or what to do."

Responding to events in other provinces helps volunteers get better at what they do, she said.

"When they do deploy, they come back with that experience and they're able to share that experience in case we do have something like that happen on P.E.I."

Anyone over the age of 18 with a clean criminal record is eligible to be a volunteer the Red Cross provides all the training required.

An application form can be found at redcross.ca

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