Red Cross volunteers go the extra mile

There were 40 trucks with 160 people out working on the Charlotte Fire on Sunday, not to mention all of the volunteers and additional law enforcement ironing out logistics. All of those people have at least one thing in common: they all have to eat.

The Red Cross has been feeding them all breakfast, lunch and dinner for the last three days, and with some big help from the community.

When Red Cross Logistics Coordinator Chris Taylor has 160 hungry, thirsty and tired people to feed, he starts with the basics: water. Ridley’s donated 25 cases of water and Taylor and his crew, Weston McCarron and Tanner Treichert, load up the disaster relief van and take off.

They headed to The Sand Trap to pick up platters of pulled pork sandwiches and pasta salad, and the guys locked everything down inside of the back of the van to make sure the precious cargo makes it safely to the people who need it.

“This is a very unique situation, we have quite a few businesses that want to donate their resources and their time, so we are in coordination with those other organizations, primarily business owners and things,” Taylor said.

Those donations have been flooding in so much that the Red Cross even has breakfast and dinner taken care of for them Sunday, but lunch needed to be delivered. They took the food into the burn zone to feed the people on the front lines. And just as quickly as it went in, the water and the food came back out with the help of some firefighters.

“If we work as a cohesive unit, we can get anything done,” Taylor said.

The operation is fluid and fast, and just like that, they’re making their way over to the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office. McCarren drove back over to the fire department to see if they need anything, and said, it just makes him feel good to help.

“I know what it’s like to be out working and needing a good drink and a hot meal,” he said.

For Taylor, it’s all about letting the community know that, we’re all in this together.

“We need this as a society to take care of each other so when things like this happen, we don’t feel alone. That’s the worst feeling in the world, not having a support base. We’re here to give a hand up, not a handout. We want people to know that the Red Cross is here for everybody,” Taylor said.