Appeal for Red Cross volunteer ‘taskforce’

LAST year was the busiest for major emergencies for the British Red Cross since the Second World War.

The organisation say they helped 9,300 people in more than 1,500 emergencies across the UK, including terror attacks in Manchester, London and the Grenfell Tower fire.

Stockport council have joined up with the British Red Cross and Aviva to call on people across the borough to sign up as community reserve volunteers, creating ‘national taskforce’.

The scheme wants local people to work together as a team during major incidents such as flooding, fires and power failures.

Volunteers do not need any specialist skills to sign up online easily and will be contacted by text if there is an emergency in their community they could help with.

The role includes packing food parcels, blowing up airbeds for rest centres and filling sandbags in times of flooding.

Each small team would be led by an experienced Red Cross volunteer who a will ensure that the teams are well supported and directed.

Pam Smith, chief executive of Stockport council said: “Major incidents don’t happen often, but we want to make sure that when they do happen, our residents can come together to help others and do small things that make a big difference.

“No specialist skills are required to be a volunteer and you can decide whether to respond to an incident on a case-bycase basis.

“I’d encourage everyone in Stockport to learn more about this great initiative and sign up to be a community reserve volunteer.”

Simon Lewis, head of crisis response at the British Red Cross said: “The British Red Cross responds to a UK emergency every four hours.

“Last year we faced a huge number of major emergencies like those in London and Manchester.

“They brought tragedy to so many people, but we witnessed remarkable acts of kindness and saw that people really want to give practical help when crisis hits.

“By creating a national taskforce of community reserve volunteers we want to put local people at the heart of emergency response, to help communities rebuild and recover faster.

“Everyone has a role to play when disaster strikes, even the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference.

“It’s quick and easy to sign up online community reserve volunteers, you don’t need specialist skills and we need your help now more than ever.”

To find out more and sign up: http://www.redcross.org.uk/reserves.