Local Red Cross Call Center is Hands On for Haiti Relief

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti has weighed incredibly heavy on the heads and hearts of all affected – and even those in surrounding countries saddened by the tragedy. And, for the American Red Cross, it’s no time like the present to step up and use all its resources to help those in need.

 

In terms of the general public reaching over, over 5,000 phone calls have come in to the Red Cross in Cross Lanes since the Tuesday hit to Haiti.

 

And, the Red Cross call center in Cross Lanes is working round the clock to make sure all calls are answered.

Tara Hines, community and development coordinator for the call center, said that all eight stations were full yesterday, Thursday, Jan. 14, in addition to volunteers who are answering phones outside of the actual call center.

 

As the only 24-hour call center for the Red Cross, a normal staff is around four people at a time, answering calls from people who need help for disaster relief.

 

But, for a time like this current Haiti crisis, the call center transforms into an information hub with an overload of employees. 

“After we saw the first news report ... and we got the first phone call, we knew it was coming,” Hines said.

After disaster hit, staffers in the call center doubled to field the 650 phone calls that came in between 5:00 p.m. and midnight the evening of the earthquake. 

Reports said that the day after the quake, over 2,050 calls answered between the Cross Lanes center and a volunteer Red Cross center in Delaware. 

With over 22 volunteer call centers across the United States, the Red Cross is stepping up to the plate and doings its best to offer assistance to those affected in Haiti.

 

Edited by Kelly McGuire

Kelly McGuire is a TMCnet Web editor, covering CRM and workforce technologies, and anchor of its daily TMC Newsroom video broadcast. Kelly also writes about eco-friendly 'green' technologies and smart grids, compiling TMCnet's weekly e-Newsletters on those topics, as well as the cable industry. To read more of Kelly's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Kelly McGuire