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Midwest Food Bank, Red Cross Volunteers Aid Harvey Relief

Eric Gay
/
The Associated Press
Matt Looingvill struggles with his umbrella as he tries to take a selfie in the wind and rain, Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Five Red Cross volunteers and an emergency response vehicle from Central Illinois have been deployed—with more on the way—as Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas.

The Red Cross is mobilizing hundreds of trained Red Cross disaster relief workers, truckloads of kitchen supplies as well as tens of thousands of ready-to-eat meals to support this response effort. Trailers full of shelter supplies including cots and blankets are scheduled to arrive in Texas.

Locally, five Red Cross volunteers have been deployed, and the organization will be deploying additional volunteers over the weekend and into next week. A volunteer team from the Bloomington area will leave this weekend and drive the emergency response vehicle to the Houston area.

Meanwhile, the Midwest Food Bank is asking for volunteers to help fill disaster relief boxes in Normal. The Salvation Army has already requested four semi loads from the Midwest Food Bank, the organization said in a Facebook post.

“We are always ready to answer the call from the Salvation Army,” Mike Hoffman, the Midwest Food Bank's director of operations, said in a blog post. “We are thankful to be able to help our neighbors to the south.”

Harvey was forecast to make landfall in Texas late Friday or early Saturday as a Category 3 storm. It's predicted to slam into the Texas coast and dump torrential rains before moving eastward.

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Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.
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