Red Cross Helps Beavertonians After Apartment Fire

Before I even woke up this morning, the Oregon Trail Chapter was already hard at work.

In the middle of the night, there was a big apartment fire out in Beaverton that affected 18 units and about 40 people. Volunteers were on the scene by 2:30 a.m.

Amongst those volunteers was public affairs team member Tom McCann, who did a fabulous job getting the news out to local media. He reported that — with the help of a mobile kitchen — we were ready to provide food, shelter and other support to those who had been affected.

This morning, the Red Cross’ response has been all over local news. Most of the residents don’t have insurance, so it’s incredibly important that we’re on the scene to help. We’ve already set up a shelter at the Oak Hills Christian Church and at 2 p.m., the church will also be a service center, where residents can get help with everything from groceries and clothes to prescriptions and eyeglasses that might have been lost in the fire. You can read the latest updates here.

The bottom line is that this is what the Red Cross is all about — being there 24 hours a day to help survivors of any size disaster begin to rebuild their lives. Seriously, what a great place to work.