Northeast Ohio Red Cross volunteers in Florida helping with impact of Hurricane Ian

While Hurricane Ian was making its way toward the Florida coast, two Red Cross volunteers from Northeast Ohio joined hundreds of others days ahead of the storm to provide disaster relief.

Monica Bunner of Medina County and Mahogany Cavard of Canton were already in Florida on Wednesday and ready to help.

Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon in southwest Florida, but its effects spurred evacuation orders and warnings across the state.

LIVE:Hurricane Ian makes landfall on Florida's southwest coast as major Category 4 storm

Bunner, 66, is sheltering in Orlando while acting as a field supervisor for other Red Cross volunteers in the state who will help reunite families and others who get separated during the hurricane. They will also help people from out of state get in contact with loved ones in Florida.

"I will work with teams going to shelters, feeding areas, where people congregate and may be missing someone," Bunner said.

Providing shelter from the storm

Cavard, who said she is on her 21st deployment in the last six years as a disaster relief volunteer, is helping staff an emergency shelter at a school building in Paisley, a small town about 25 miles north of Orlando.

She said volunteers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states took up dozens of rooms at the Crowne Plaza Orlando while being deployed. She arrived at her assignment Tuesday night. By Wednesday evening, about two dozen people, including about six children, were sheltering at the school.

She said many of them were from area mobile homes and had been directed to evacuate due to the threat of flooding and high winds, even though the community is well inland and around 200 miles from where Hurricane Ian made landfall.

She said providing a good meal is one of the most important parts of caring for people who seek shelter. The staff also tries to find things to keep the children occupied.

"These sorts of evacuation shelters are meant for people to wait out the storm," she said, adding everyone is hoping their homes will be intact when the storm passes.

"They felt safer coming here, because if there was flooding, they may not have been able to get out," she said.

Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers assist with shelter, relief

The Red Cross has more than 500 trained disaster workers deployed in Florida to support sheltering and relief efforts for Hurricane Ian, said Jim McIntyre, spokesman for the American Red Cross Northern Ohio Region, which includes Akron and neighboring areas. At least six other Northeast Ohio residents are on standby to go to Florida if needed, he said.

Bunner said this is probably the 20th time she has deployed with the Red Cross, including helping with other hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires and for other issues. Normal deployment is a minimum of two weeks and a typical daily shift lasts 12 hours, she said.

Bunner said she was making sure her backup batteries for her cellphone and other technology were charged. She also stocked up on food and water.

"My biggest concern isn't so much wind or storm as much as power outages," she said.

Bunner said she has had Red Cross training on a number of different needs, with her focus this time on reunification efforts.

"That basically means connecting families, friends, loved ones," she said. Among the issues they have to be concerned about are the health and mobility needs of people, she said.

In many cases, the Red Cross volunteers don't need to physically go out and look for someone, she said. If a situation is dire or potentially dire, then volunteers will help look for people, she said.

Reunification includes working with law enforcement, making sure that minors are not left unattended, and looking out for human trafficking and homeless people, Bunner said.

"We get all sorts of folks," she said.

The Red Cross moved truckloads of cots, blankets and comfort kits, along with tens of thousands of relief supplies into the region to be prepared to help as many as 60,000 people, the Red Cross said in a news release.

Dozens of emergency response vehicles were pre-positioned around Florida, and several hundred blood products were sent to to Florida ahead of the storm to ensure patients continue to have access to a readily available blood supply, the Red Cross said.

How to help Hurricane Ian relief

Bunner and McIntyre said the Red Cross can use monetary donations to help the organization provide aid. The organization does not accept donations of such things as clothing or food.

People can donate money to Red Cross Disaster Relief. To make a donation, go to redcross.org, call 800-RED-CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hurricane Ian brings Northeast Ohio Red Cross volunteers to Florida