Joe Becker
Joe Becker
blow gulf inflict katrina monumental obvious storm
It was obvious even before Katrina made landfall in Mississippi that this storm was going to inflict a monumental blow to the Gulf Coast.
country cross disaster help lane matters people red rural serving understand
At the end of the day, what really matters is people are serving me (the catastrophe victim) who understand me and who know me and who can help me. The rural congregation down the country lane should know that it can be part of the community's disaster response, and the Red Cross can help them become part of that response.
alabama bigger florida four hit job last orleans scope storms tackled took
The scope of this is just so huge. If you took New Orleans out of the equation, Mississippi and Alabama would be a bigger job than we tackled in all four of the storms that hit Florida last year.
assist believe community effort faith federal government scale scope
I believe it's appropriate for the federal government to assist the faith community because of the scale and scope of the effort and how long it's lasting.
bring coast cross florida gulf havoc hurricane katrina red relief southeast storm
Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on southeast Florida and the Gulf coast states. The Red Cross is mobilizing on all fronts to bring relief to storm victims.
emergency immediate money needs
All that money went to the immediate emergency needs of the people.
might
They said they thought he might be a burglary suspect.
disaster doubt largest length natural records red response single terms
This is the largest response to a single natural disaster in the 125 years of the American Red Cross, and there's no doubt it will set many records in terms of the length and expanse of the operation.
ended happening imagined large last responses scope sure
If you think about the scope and scale, I am not sure we imagined some of our responses need to be as large what ended up happening last fall.
change places robust system volunteers
We need to change who we are. We can have the most robust system possible, but what we need to have are the right volunteers in the right places doing the right work.
hurricane large last learned number prepared steps taken
We've learned a lot in the last months. We have taken a large number of steps to be better this hurricane season. We will be more prepared for the worst-case scenario.
affected areas country eat meals million needed prepared shelter supplies throughout
We will put in place in warehouses throughout the affected areas and around the country supplies needed to shelter 500,000 people. We will pre-position meals prepared to eat for a million a day.
areas quick
We had some areas that we couldn't get to as quick as we would want to.
assistance building families financial information july million support
We are building an IT (information technology) infrastructure to be able to support 2 million families that have need of financial assistance and we will have that in place by July 1.