By John Howell Sr.

The American Red Cross helped 146 Panola residents during its last fiscal year, spending over $33,000 to help families displaced in house fires.

That role of the national charity is often overshadowed by the assistance it provides in disasters, topmost in our minds the assistance currently being rendered to the victims of Hurricane Sandy and always remembered for the aid to Hurricane Katrina’s victims in Mississippi and Louisiana.

And the local chapter — the chapter that includes 17 counties of North Mississippi — has presently an emergency response vehicle and two paid staff members in New Jersey.

“It is going to be a long relief process,” said Northwest Mississippi Red Cross chapter manager Jennifer Coleman.

At the same time, the chapter will be providing relief for fire victims, Coleman told members of the Batesville Rotary Club last week.

“We respond to all those house fires; that’s one of the biggest things we do,” Coleman said. “We’re here on a daily basis. You just don’t know it.”

Typically, when a family’s home is rendered uninhabitable by fire or in other emergencies, the Red Cross is contacted, either by a fire chief or by Panola County Emergency Management Agency director Daniel Cole.

“The Red Cross takes care of immediate needs,” Coleman said, including up to three nights’ lodging, clothing and food vouchers. Each victim also receives a “comfort kit,” with other goods for immediate needs. Comfort kits are assembled by volunteers, she said, including youth groups and Sunday School classes.

In addition to disaster relief, the Red Cross is the only conduit through which to communicate with members of the U. S. military, Coleman said.

For each dollar donated to the Red Cross, 91 cents go to relief efforts, Coleman said. Donors can specify where their donation will be used — either locally, for relief in a specific disaster or for general Red Cross use.

Tim Robertson is the only Red Cross volunteer in Panola County, she said. Ninety seven percent of Red Cross workers are volunteers.

The Red Cross conducts shelter surveys to identify suitable locations to house victims during an emergency, she said, prompting comments from several in the audience about the experience of the First Baptist Church in Batesville in Katrina’s aftermath, when Red Cross officials turned away donated food.

“A lot of people got their feelings hurt,” Jim Pitcock said.

Coleman said that at Red Cross shelters, the agency must assure that food guidelines are followed during preparation.

‘”Somebody gets sick and then sues the Red Cross,” another person commented, offering a rationale for the guidelines.

 However, the Red Cross can provide material support for shelters that it has not certified, Coleman said.

Local planning by the Red Cross includes pre-certifying businesses who can provide food to shelters during a disaster. “If anybody has a restaurant or catering business, let me know,” she said.

Mississippi’s Red Cross chapter Web site is www.mississippi-redcross.org. Coleman can be contacted by e-mail at jennifer.coleman@redcross.org or (662) 236-1282.