Triangle volunteers go to Texas to help with hurricane
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- With memories of Hurricane Matthew still fresh in their minds, the Triangle chapter of the Red Cross is sending aid to areas under siege from Hurricane Harvey.
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According to the National Hurricane Center, Harvey has strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane as it eyes the Texas and Louisiana coastlines.
"Just as the Red Cross responded for us, we are going to respond to help others," Barry Porter, CEO of Triangle Red Cross, explained to ABC11."The response means sheltering, feeding and caring, then the recovery means how can families go back into their homes."
Porter adds that Triangle residents wanting to help can donate money and they can also donate blood.
"We can't hold blood drives during storms," Porter said. "The need never goes away."
Also in the path of the storm, some of the biggest hospitals in the country, including Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Rafael Kaplan, younger brother of ABC11's Jonah Kaplan, is a medical student on rotation there this summer.
"I'm supposed to be on-call Sunday for 24 hours," Kaplan said. "Managers said if you can't make it, it's not worth it. They don't want us to be patients ourselves if we go try to make it out in the storm."
