With hurricane season beginning in about three months, Judy White wants to make sure this community is ready.

“Lenoir County does not want to be unprepared,” said White, director of the local Red Cross chapter. “Some of the issues that occurred with Hurricane Katrina were because some states and counties were not prepared.”

One of the key ingredients to handling disasters is a crew of trained volunteers, and anyone who wants to learn volunteer skills can get training Feb. 25. The Red Cross will conduct free classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Neuseway Nature Center.

“We’ll have a lot of information crammed into one day,” White said. “People who attend will first get an introduction to disaster to learn what the Red Cross does and does not do during a disaster, and what kind of services we can offer to the public.”

Volunteers will learn to handle crowds of people who need to be fed and sheltered, and the details surrounding setting up a shelter. The end of the day will see the class setting up a simulated shelter for victims.

“Once they have gone through the class, they will be qualified to work disasters with the Red Cross,” White said. “If they want to deploy somewhere to another county or state, they have the basic training to be able to go.”

Many would-be volunteers became frustrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when they were unable to help storm victims in Louisiana and Mississippi because they had not had the proper training.

White went with other Red Cross volunteers to Florida after Hurricane Charlie struck in 2004.

“My training came in handy when I was at one of the service centers in south Florida,” White said. “This particular service center had a large amount of people that showed up at the center to have casework done. Emotions were very high, people were in shock, people were scared supplies would give out before could get to the front of the line. There were times when clients began to fight among themselves while waiting in line. The training came in handy when we were trying to keep things orderly and to reassure them.”

Pre-registration for the classes is required since space is limited. Call Kathy at 523-4528 to register, or for more information.

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