Residents Give $3,785 to Victims of Floods

Ventura County residents have donated nearly $4,000 to the Red Cross to help the 22,000 families affected by massive floods in the Midwest.

“We are pleased with this excellent show of support for the victims of this horrible flooding,” said Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken W. Riley, chairman of the Ventura County chapter of the American Red Cross.

“Those people’s needs are going to be extraordinary,” said Brian Bolton, the chapter’s executive director. “When the water recedes, there are going to be a lot of traumatic aftereffects.”

The $3,785 donated to date in Ventura will go to the Red Cross emergency relief fund, which, in turn pays for an array of disaster services. “It’s more than just a blanket and a cot,” Bolton said.

The Red Cross provides food, medicine, shelter, even what they call “items of employment”--such as replacement tools for a carpenter, he said.

Bolton said the Red Cross encourages people to donate money rather than items like clothing or food.

In addition to financial support, the chapter sent Ventura resident Mike Goth, an expert in logistics and resource movement, to Hannibal, Mo. He is in charge of four area shelters and food distribution in five counties.

The Red Cross has set up 90 shelters in the region, Bolton said.

Anyone wishing to help the victims of the Midwest floods can contact the Ventura County chapter at 339-2234.