American Red Cross in Greater New York (ARC/GNY) continues to provide relief to victims but begins to transition assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as President Bush declared the region a federal disaster area.

Red Cross workers will transition the Family Assistance Center at 150 Pike Street in Port Jervis on Friday, April 22, and will focus on home visits and outreach to clients in hotels. Red Cross workers will be available at the FEMA office located at the Deerpark Town Hall. People who believe they still need additional assistance should contact the Red Cross office at 55 Main Street in Goshen. According to Elizabeth Popovich, Director of the Orange/Sullivan Office, "American Red Cross assistance is determined by family caseworkers on a case by case basis according to standardized and equitable assistance guidelines."

Currently, Red Cross staff and volunteers are conducting door-to-door outreach to more than 800 families. In addition, family caseworkers and disaster relief volunteers continue to provide special Red Cross clean-up kits and disaster relief supplies.

The American Red Cross helps people with immediate, short-term emergency, disaster-caused needs such as food, clothing, and temporary shelter. This aid is given to individuals and families to enable them to resume their normal daily activities as quickly as possible, or until further long-term assistance becomes available. We work with other agencies to ensure that clients access all programs for which they are eligible.

For more than two weeks, more than a hundred of Red Cross staff and volunteers across the state have been helping the thousands of victims by:

• Sheltering 793 people,
• Distributing nearly 5,100 meals,
• Providing 455 mental health contacts,
• Providing 1125 clean up kits,
• Providing 927 comfort kits,
• Providing emergency assistance, including temporary housing, food, clothing, cleaning supplies and emotional support.

The American Red Cross responds to more than 5,000 disasters in the state of New York each year and will continue to seek the funds needed to assist communities with fires and other daily disasters throughout the state. In addition, the Red Cross is currently responding to the relief efforts of two other floods in nearby Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

People displaced by the flooding who are still in need of emergency assistance should contact the Red Cross at 1-877 RED-CROSS.