Tag Archives: Disaster Sheltering

American Red Cross NCCR Volunteers Provide Relief to Thousands of Alaskan Survivors of Typhoon Halong

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When American Red Cross volunteer Karl Matzke, from Santa Clara County, received the call to organize a team and deploy to Alaska, there was no hesitation in his decision to go. As one of the Divisional Leads for Operations Management, he ran the operations for the first shelter that opened in Alaska just three days after Typhoon Halong devastated the region on October 12.

October 22, 2025. Anchorage, Alaska.
The American Red Cross deployed hundreds of Red Cross disaster workers from across the country to help during what could be a prolonged relief response from Typhoon Halong.
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On the Frontlines of Relief: A Volunteer’s Perspective from the Southern California Wildfires

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Kaia ready to go for her first Red Cross deployment

Kaia Newsam was out the door, ready to head to Los Angeles as soon as she got the call from the American Red Cross to respond to the Southern California wildfires. Even if this was her first volunteer mission with the Red Cross, Kaia was equipped to volunteer, having already completed the necessary training.

A recent graduate from U.C. Berkeley and now based in Merced, Kaia has been studying for the MCAT in preparation for medical school applications, which left her with free time to answer the call for volunteers.

“I was a brand new volunteer still going through my training and I just happened to be able to do all of the sheltering training in one day,” she said. “Deploying to the L.A. fires was my first experience volunteering at the Red Cross, which is a crazy thing to leave for two weeks to do.”

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