The Insight: An Eye To-Ward Greater Representation...

Councilor Edwards (Facebook)

Every individual who runs for office must have some ego.  While Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin Edwards is no different, it is quite obvious after only a few minutes with him that he keeps humility in a sizable reserve.  If that’s a strength, he is going to need all he can get and more as he takes on Senator James T. Welch in what may be the most highest profile primary race for state office in the area this year.

Edwards, a sophomore member of the Springfield City Council, and among the first batch of ward-elected councilors for the city in over fifty years, is not the council’s loudest or highest-profile member.  However, when he does speak, it easy to identify him as among those who may be the body’s conscience, never rushing to a decision and often excoriating councilors, the mayor and others for forcing the body to rush things needlessly.

Whether soft-spoken or eloquently speaking more forcefully at a council meeting or other public venue, it is clear that Edwards possesses a true and real love for Springfield.  That passion for the city is not just boilerplate polito-speak.  Rather it is the conviction of his tone coupled with factoids about Springfield‘s prouder aspects.  (like how Springfield’s Forest Park and Central Park share a connection through fabled parks designer Frederick Law Olmstead).   “My passion is for Springfield,” he said during an interview with Western Mass Politics & Insight.

It is no surprise that Edwards's tone moves between a soft conversational and ministerial, but never sanctimonious.  His mother was a Pentecostal minister, just one piece of the mosaic that forms his background, which includes roots in Pakistan, the West Indies and Native American tribes.  A resident of Springfield for virtually his whole life, Edwards raised his family here with his wife Suzanne.

Councilor Edwards at his desk (WMassP&I)

Edwards won reelection unopposed, like seven out of eight of the city’s ward councilors last year.  However, his initial victory in 2009 was made possible by the circumstances of the city’s changing municipal government.  The race was the inevitable next step for someone who had gone from sprucing up the Maple Heights/Six Corners neighborhood where he lives to becoming President of the neighborhood civic association.  Additional honors of late have included introducing Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren at a fundraiser for her in Springfield last year.

In an interview with WMassP&I, Edwards described his transition from citizen to public servant.  Well before ward representation was a reality, Edwards and his wife, tired of the condition of their neighborhood, among the city’s poorest, took to picking up garbage on the side of the road.  Their work quickly gained the accolades of other fed up residents and would become the genesis for Keep Springfield Beautiful.  It would be that early activism that led others to encourage Edwards to attend and participate in Maple High/Six Corners Neighborhood Council.

At the neighborhood council, Edwards ascended to president, a position he holds to this day.  However, even the president of the neighborhood council would find it difficult to get adequate responses from city departments.  The police often asked if a gun was involved before sending help on the way, a questionEdwards says is not posed to all neighborhoods calling the cops.  Facing these harsh realities where even the head of a neighborhood council could not get the answers he wanted from City Hall, Edwards and Ward 3 would find an opportunity in ward representation.  Edwards said that in the run up to the 2009 election, many in the neighborhood came up to him and urged him to take up the challenge and represent their ward at 36 Court Street.

The Year in Springfield, 2011...

(WMassP&I)

With another year under Springfield’s belt comes another edition of the Year in Springfield.  In its 375th year of existence the City of Homes suffered through one of the most erratic year of weather on record which brought a range of immense destruction and gross inconvenience.  Politically, it was also a tumultuous time from Springfield City Hall to Beacon Hill to the steps of Harvard University.

The year 2011 opened in Springfield with an eye, as in other places, to Washington, where a cadre of increasingly nihilistic “citizens” took their place in Congress and in state capitals across the nation.  While the boat rocked in Massachusetts with a shrunken, but still massive Democratic edge in the State House, Governor Deval Patrick took the oath of office once more. 

However, America was rocked only eight days into January when Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, by quite literally a madman.  Early accusations pointed to tea party extremism, but ultimately mental disease and not right-wing anarchy drove the young man to shoot Giffords and twelve others while murdering six.  Gifford suffered a traumatic shot to the head, be saved by the quick thinking of her intern of five days.

Cong. Gifford w/ her Mother weeks

after the shooting (PK Weis via Facebook)

President Barack Obama, given his first significant opportunity to play the healer-in-chief gave a stirring speech at a memorial service attended by Arizona’s Senators, its governor with Obama has frequently clashed, Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who oversees the Ninth Circuit within which the slain judge, John Roll, served.

The event took on somewhat of a local relevance when Congressman Richard Neal held a press conference after the shooting noting that he had known Giffords and had raised money for her ahead of what had been a difficult reelection in 2010.  However, he also urged that parties take down a notch the vitriol and anger that had become pervasive in politics whether Loughner was driven by politics or not.

Also in January Amaad Rivera took office as the Ward 6 Councilor following the resignation of Keith Wright.  He took office because the city’s succession law is only written with only at-large councilors in mind and fills vacancies with runners-up.  Technically, Rivera was a runner-up even though he lost the 2009 election.  The chorus of dissent included this blog and came to a head on a vote for eminent domain as part of Forest Park Middle School renovations.  Rivera invoked Rule 20, the council’s parliamentary motion to delay the project to the shock of other councilors.  While we would settle our differences with Rivera, many remained incensed over the use of Rule 20, ironically including some who would encounter similar anger over its usage.

Councilor Amaad Rivera (WMassP&I)

However, the focus on Rivera would lessen as he became one of a super-majority of councilors that opposed a wood-burning biomass plant.  The special permit had been granted in 2008 by the last council on a 7-2 vote.  All ward councilors and two at-large councilors, including Jose Tosado who voted for the permit in 2008.  The Callahan Family, owners of Palmer Renewable Energy and like-named paving company poured money into experts who dismissed, often condescendingly, the health concerns raised by opponents.  Against the din of protests and threats of legal action the council revoked PRE’s permit on a 10-2 vote.

Another Term, Double the Time...

Mayor Sarno greets Supporters in Springfield (WMassP&I)

Last night at St. Anthony's Maronite Church on Island Pond Road, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno kicked off his reelection campaign for a third term as the city's mayor.  While the mayor's incumbency had long been seen as among his strengths going into this election, the June 1st tornado that devastated parts of the city gave the mayor a boost and even sidelined, temporarily, the campaign of his first announced opponent, City Council President Jose Tosado.

It was noted during the speeches that Sarno had announced his campaign for mayor four years ago at the same event hall in the City's East Forest Park section.  The choice of venue took on a more poignant meaning set against the backdrop of the devastation of the tornado that ripped through the neighborhood meters away from the church.  Massive expanses of night sky, once obscured by a near-forest of trees, hung naked and exposed above the church and parking lot.

Inside, however, several speakers extolled Sarno's virtues to a crowd of about 300.  Among those in attendance were city council candidates Bruce Adams and Justin Hurst; former councilor Bill Foley; Ward 5 Councilor Clodo Concepcion; state reps Angelo Puppolo and Cheryle Coakley-Rivera; state senator Gale Candaras,;New England Farm Workers Council head Heriberto Flores; former school committeewoman Marjorie Hurst; Springfield College President Richard Flynn and other Springfield Illuminati.

The Insight: Setti Warren and the Brown-out facing the Unemployed...

 **UPDATE** Editor's Note: In response to a comment, we wanted to add a clarification on the post itself.  The comparison between Scott Brown's and Setti Warren's service is NOT intended to cast aspersions on National Guard service.  There is a difference between touting one's own service retrospectively as opposed to prospectively securing that service so as to retrospectively tout it.  The comparison below is intended to suggest the Mass GOP perceives Warren as a threat, not speak to an individual's service or how that service qualifies a candidate.

Mayor Warren with Rexene Picard (WMassP&I)

Yesterday in Springfield Newton Mayor and candidate for the Democratic nomination in next year's Senate race toured Futureworks, the jobs training and labor exchange based at the STCC Technology Park opposite the college  Rexene Picard, the organization's executive director showed the mayor around the facility and explained the importance of funds form the Workforce Enhancement Act, especially at a time when so many are looking for jobs.

Warren met with both job seekers and the people whose job it is to take the less out of the jobless.  Futureworks programs cater to a wide range of people from all skill levels, education and age group.  Picard noted that the organization often helps people, who are looking for work for the first time in twenty years, navigate the more complex and often electronic aspects of modern recruiting.

WMassP&I spoke with Mayor Warren at the conclusion of his tour about a range of subjects affecting both the Springfield area and the commonwealth at large.  On a local level, Warren was asked about the Environmental Protection Agency and how it relates to the controversial biomass plant proposed for Page Boulevard in Springfield.  Specifically, the question related to Sen. Scott Brown's vote to gut the EPA's rule-making ability, just as the agency began a 3 year evaluation on the impact of biomass plants and Springfield was locked in a high-stakes fight with a developer over the same issue.

The Newton mayor said he was "deeply concerned" about Brown's positions on the environment, particularly his vote on the EPA and the senator's questioning of the science of global climate change.  Warren encouraged a movement toward renewable energy, but remained cautious about biomass.  Energy produced by burning dead plant matter needs "deeper study," he said.  Fundamentally for Warren, the concern is that the health and environmental effects of these plants were unknown.  When asked, Warren did say he had met many residents of Western Massachusetts who also expressed concerns about the unknowns of biomass plants' health and ecological impact.

The Old Seal of FEMA (wikipedia)

Under President Bill Clinton, Setti Warren was the New England Director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  As a result Warren was asked about the fiscal impact that reckless budget cutting could do to imperil federal disaster relief from which Springfield and its neighbors have recently benefited.  Warren, who has visited with tornado victims at the MassMutual Center, took a moment to point out that FEMA, under Pres. Barack Obama's leadership, has vastly improved itself since Hurricane Katrina.  The president "values this agency," Warren said adding that the Bush administration had "dismantled" the work of James Lee Witt, the Agency Director under whom Warren served.  As a result, the current talk in Washington over the debt and deficit has thus far been "irresponsible." It is neither focused on investing  in our workforce nor maintaining adequate preparedness for disasters to the benefit, Warren suggests, of tax cuts for the wealthy.  Warren was unequivocal, "We need to invest in recovery."

WMassP&I mentioned that Senator Brown was in Springfield recently.  At Brown's appearance, this blog posed a question to Brown as to whether he was telling his colleagues, namely the anti-government ones, about the good work being done in Springfield by government.  Brown deflected and did not answer.  So a similar question was posed to Warren.  As Senator, would Warren go to Washington and inform his colleagues there about the good work public service and servants are doing in Massachusetts in order to counter the anti-government sentiment prevailing there?  Warren spoke more broadly.  Yes, he would bring those positive observations back to Washington, but he would also be telling his colleagues about what his constituents are most concerned about.  Having held 24 town hall meetings across his own city of Newton, Warren says that his constituents are more interested in jobs and how budget cuts will affect them, not vapid demagoguery about government.

Rebuilding from Tornado More Interesting than Sen. Brown...

The Crowd (mostly reporters) in Six Corners (WMassP&I)

Today in Springfield a mob of reporters, a few politicians and aides toured the Six Corners neighborhood of the city.  It was one month ago today that a tornado touched down in Westfield and scarred the Massachusetts landscape from the Whip City to Brimfield, including the largely poor blocks along Central and Hancock Streets in Springfield.

Senator Scott Brown took another tour of the tornado ravaged section of the city.  According to Brown, this particular expedition had been planned for next week, but when Harry Reid canceled the Senate’s Fourth of July recess, it got bumped to today.  However, the walk around Hancock, Spruce, Beech and Central streets was surprisingly unimpressive, or more accurately the fact of the walk-around itself was unimpressive.  A great deal of damage remains, blue and dark green tarps cap many homes and debris still clutters sidewalks and yards.  However, there are signs reconstruction is well underway.

Indeed, although those recovery efforts were somewhat few, they were the highlight of the tour.  The gaggle migrating through the streets, with reporters breaking off to get the same shot—Brown and Mayor Domenic Sarno chatting—seemed more like an intrusion than a help to the quiet, if ravaged neighborhood.

Sarno, Brown and Antonette Pepe on Spruce St (WMassP&I)

While Sarno was undoubtedly and dutifully informing Brown about recovery efforts in the city, their conversation or what could be heard while trying to keep pace, seemed somewhat boilerplate.  The tone and tenor of the discussion could just as easily have taken place with Brown sitting in his office.  Some reporters noted—off camera and out of earshot of the Senator—that Brown acknowledged residents and workers, which Sarno ebulliently greeted, with an unenthused royal wave.  Brown did not even stop to greet the man in a garage off Central Street who praised him.

Elsewhere, work crews patched up houses even as the crumbled remains of others settled further into the earth.  New housing stricken by the tornado was sheathed in green material and being repaired.  Several families sat on their stoops watching their children play.  Cars slowed partly out of curiosity of the mob’s purpose or because the road was obstructed by the tide of human masses as a cop tried to wave the traffic around.

Sen. Brown and Mayor Sarno (WMassP&I)

When the gaggle reconnoitered at the Elias Brookings School, Brown and Sarno gave some remarks.  Just before the mini-Q&A started, one reporter opted to wire Brown, rather than kill their arm’s circulation and hold out a microphone.  Initially, Brown’s mic was about mid shirt, but he fiddled with it, and the mic seemed to snag one of his buttons.  Brown turned around to adjust the mic (and his shirt apparently) as another reporter made a remark about Brown taking his shirt off.  A different reporter (your Editor-in-Chief) blurted out, “This ain’t Cosmo!” which roused a brief roar of laughter.

Take My Council, Please: Storm Stories...and Nullification at 36 Court?...

 **UPDATED** The following post has been updated as of 6/9/11.  Data on the slots votes has been corrected.

The Springfield City Council held their first meeting since last week's tornado sliced through the heart of Springfield and neighboring towns.  The council had a great deal of regular business to attend to, but there was also time to bat stories from the disaster back and forth among the councils.  Unfortunately, even a somber a subject as the tornado was unable to escape some political rancor.  The only item that dredged up as much emotion as the tornado, was oddly, the Slot Parlor/Internet Cafe on Cooley Street in the city's Five Town Plaza.

First the boilerplate.  More money was accepted by the Health Department from grants and other sources.  The police department had an order to transfer funds from its salaries account to its equipment account to purchase new vests for police officers.  However, left unclear was why this money was being appropriated now as opposed to in the original budget approved last year.  Motions were made to refer the matter to committee, but between the police sergeant holding a vest in the audience and the admonitions of at-large councilors Tim Rooke and Kateri Walsh about police safety, the motion could not find a second.  The money did not come from reserves, but still a better explanation is merited.

Thomas Belton, right (Masslive)

On a far more positive note, the City Council approved the nomination of Thomas Belton to be director of Veterans Services.  Belton, a former marine and Vietnam Veteran, received hefty praise from Clodo Concepcion, Jose Tosado and Kateri Walsh, whose husband abruptly resigned earlier this year.  After the vote, Belton briefly thanked the council in remarks from which long winded Oscar winners could learn a thing about brevity.

Then the council started veering into some very strange territory.  WMassP&I has not confirmed the original date of the first vote, but the council took up reconsideration of a vote for a special permit for the 777 Internet Cafe on Cooley Street in Springfield.  These Internet Cafes have gained attention as violating the state's laws against gambling.  Essentially, via an elaborate system using tokens and whatnot, proprietors have been able to shirk these laws.  The Attorney General shut down many of them, but others have sought to reopen under narrow exceptions.  Those exceptions require a permit from the city.

777 Internet Cafe on Cooley St (WMassP&I)

The original vote failed by an 8-4 vote (special permits require 9 votes, notwithstanding absences).  A motion had been made for reconsideration, for whatever reason. Apparently there is considerable support for the parlor on Cooley Street, which is very popular and by all accounts far better run than some of the others shut down.  However, per Massachusetts General Law 40A Sec. 16, the matter could not be brought up again for two years after a final decision had been rendered.  The 8-4, according to the City Solicitor, was that final decision, not subject to reconsideration.  

Reconsideration is a parliamentary tactic the council has written into its own rules.  It cannot and does not override the state law, which does not allow for any the do-overs.  The reason is because, as with biomass votes last month, the council was sitting as a regulatory body governed by very specific and complex land use statutes set by the commonwealth.  The elected council just happens to be the body empowered to execute that state statute in the city.  

(WMassP&I)

When the council, as the municipal legislature, votes on an ordinance or monetary transfer, for example, it is acting on general powers granted by the mosaic of special acts, the general laws and the city charter that govern the City of Springfield.  Therefore, it can set its own rules on when issues can be brought up again. Typically under council rules, if an item is not reconsidered immediately after a vote, it cannot be brought up again until the next council is seated.  Still, that rule exists at the council's direction.

The Day After...

Monson Steeple Destroyed (CBS3 Springfield)

The tornado that hit Springfield and its environs yesterday was nothing like the ones that struck Joplin, Mo. or Tuscaloosa, Ala.  Still, these devastating cyclones bore down hard on densely settled areas and wreaked havoc, particularly on the city's older buildings and homes generally throughout the region.  As stated in our earlier post, the South End of Springfield was hit hard as were homes along  South Branch Parkway and Arcadia Avenue.  Tree damage is extensive up near the former campus of the MacDuffie School and at and around Cathedral High School and along Watershops Ponds.  Cathedral's building suffered extensive damage to the windows and walls.  In West Springfield, the Merrick section was devastated.  Whole sections of Monson were leveled.

This video of the cycling moving along the Connecticut River, sucking up water and barreling into the CSX and Memorial Bridges are particularly terrifying.

From what we have seen, the most obvious and consistent damage throughout the region is the plethora of trees littering the ground, properties and streets.  Many of these trees obviously also caused damage to cars and buildings.  Traveling down Allen Street in Springfield, just before the Watershops Armory, the number of downed trees appeared to multiply.  None were obstructing traffic, but, travel was slow-going down the hill.  Aerial photography shows damage to the roof of the old Armory building at 1 Allen Street.

MacDuffie Campus (WMassP&I)

Turning onto Rifle Street, the road was covered in branches and tree limbs.  The trees growing along the Mill River seemed bent and out of place.  Johnny Appleseed Park at Locust and Hancock had its share of downed trees none of which, miraculously, appeared to have fallen on the playground.  Mangled trees were the norm until the MacDuffie campus.  Roofs were either covered with debris or clearly damaged.  What used to be a fairly well-shaded ex-campus was now largely exposed to sky.  Fallen trees were more visible than grass.  Across the street limbs and branches littered the roofs and lawns of the historic homes on Maple.

Although some debris remained along the rest of the path to downtown, the street was pretty clear.  By the Central Library it hardly looked like anything was out of the ordinary.  Hillman Street was clear.  Turning left onto Main street was a challenge and cop cars shuttled up and down the city's main drag.  Main Street was cut off below State street by a police barricade.  The photographic evidence from elsewhere suggests that that areas was where the most damage was in "downtown."

(WMassP&I)

Court Square sustained significant damage, but not as bad as early press accounts had suggested.  Several large trees were uprooted taking with them some bricks from the square's walkways.  However, a few large trees survived unscathed.  The monuments and fountain appeared unharmed.  News vans from as far away as Albany lined the square.  Amazingly, no windows appeared broken on the Court Square hotel facing the square, an impressive situation as the ever-ready-to-be-developed building and its windows are not in the best condition.

Circling the block to State Street, some windows did appear broken on the hotel rear end and a storefront on State Street looked bombed out.  Riverfront park, again, like many parts of the city looked bad, but clearly could have looked worse.  An Amtrak repair truck based out of Bear, DE sat by the tracks.  Service had been restored early this morning according to an Amtrak Twitter account.  Trees were down throughout the park and a few lampposts had likewise collapsed.  Still, the park's damage might have been easily mistaken for the overgrowth seen in a recent visit to the Connecticut River Bikeway.

Court Sq. (WMassP&I)

A short drive away in the parking lot of the Basketball Hall of Fame, a massive State Police RV was the locus of the staging area for emergency and recovery vehicles.  Ambulances and police cruisers lines the parking lot.  Trucks, ostensibly with supplies took up a few spots on the UNO's side of the Hall parking lot.  National guard vehicles puttered around Springfield, including along Hall of Fame Avenue (West Columbus Ave).

Upon closer inspection, the East Forest Park area looks pretty bad.  However, the greatest damage was to the trees, particularly the tallest ones.  Most fell onto the street and had already been pushed parallel to the curb.  Others collapsed onto lawns or power lines.  Some fell onto homes, but rather than crash through them, the houses caught the trees who has stood probably since before the neighborhood developed.  Meanwhile, trees younger than Cathedral's present freshman sat virtually undisturbed.

E. Forest Park on Roosevelt Ave (WMassP&I)

Moving closer to South Branch Parkway, however, and the damage grew worse.  Where as along Plumtree Road, the older trees gave way, but other still shaded the street, further north the sky was as naked as it was over Maple Street.  Here unenclosed porches and canopies were not so lucky and some houses had their shingles blown off.  Others were not nearly as lucky.  The Boston Globe reports that Pennsylvania Avenue was hit particularly hard with several homes destroyed.  Based on the landmarks mentioned in the article, that damage coincides with our observations putting along Pennsylvania between South Branch and Ithaca.

On Arcadia Avenue, a street, also along Watershops Ponds, many houses appeared to have suffered wind damage with missing shingles and bare external walls...if any walls at all.  Along Island Pond, near Cathedral, the trees were also pulled down and it may have caused some damage to the rear of the houses that rim Island Pond.  Closer to Watershops pond, however, the body of water was clearly visible as the south side of its belt of trees had now given way to army of half-trucks broken like twigs.   Power lines and telephone poles littered the ground as Western Mass Electric Company workers and tree service crews labored to restore the neighborhood to normality.

(WMassP&I)

The Globe also reported that Gov. Deval Patrick said 200 buildings were destroyed in the storm including 35 in Springfield and 88 in West Springfield.  One may balk at that number 200, but in fact that is fairly small.  That is probably not much comfort to the occupants of those buildings.

It was difficult to assess the breadth of the damage in East Forest Park.  Traffic still cannot pass Plumtree Road beyond South Branch Parkway and Bradley Road was reportedly blocked off last night.  One thing seems at least seems certain.  The neighborhood will recover.  Fighting against the smell of tree sap and leaves was the aroma of more than a few barbecues.  Among the onlookers were many neighbors gathered talking to one another.  The Republican reports electricity is still off.  One family was carrying a box of pizza home from their car.

Mitt Romney, during his announcement of another presidential bid, made no mention of the tornadoes in the state he used to govern.  Meanwhile, Sarah Palin vacationing to attract attention to herself after the media stopped caring, offered a vapid show of support to victims, even as her "bus tour" had to take shelter en route to Boston yesterday.

East Forest Park, Gillette Circle (WMassP&I)

This evening Congressman Richard Neal and Sen. John Kerry are calling for the Springfield area to be declared a national disaster area by President Barack Obama.  In all likelihood the president will do so.  That will unleash additional assistance from the federal government for small businesses and homeowners.  The governor is scaling back the "Emergency" component of the state's operations according to WBUR.  However, recovery and reconstruction efforts are even now underway.   

What is particularly striking about the damage caused by the tornado is how selective it is.  While, trees especially tall ones seemed clearly doomed, houses themselves in Springfield, at least, seemed to be destroyed or otherwise damaged almost arbitrarily.  An intact house doused with branches next to a shingle-less, but stable house next to an open foundation.  Truly there, but the grace of God, it seems.

This Ain't Kansas, Toto, but...

Yesterday, as many of you already know two or more tornadoes descended onto the Greater Springfield area yesterday around 430 pm.  The path of the tornadoes although fairly clear did not distribute the damage evenly.  Some neighborhoods in Springfield, West Springfield and Monson, the communities that received the brunt of the damage, experienced significant damage.  Others simply experienced power losses and downed trees.  The New York Times and Boston Globe reported a total four deaths last night due the storm in both Springfields and Brimfield.

Last night, Senator John Kerry arrived in Springfield with Gov. Deval Patrick.  Both pledged the full resources of the federal and state governments would be made available to communities.  Kerry predicted that the Springfield area would receive a federal disaster designation, which would unleash more federal assistance.  Kerry, Patrick and having arrived today, Senator Scott Brown, took a helicopter tour of the damage and surveyed Monson by foot.  Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno promised that the city would rebuild.  West Springfield Mayor Ed Gibson said some areas of his city were practically demolished.

At this time it appears that the South End in Springfield and West Springfield near Memorial Avenue was hit the hardest in those communities.  Monson generally was hit pretty hard.  Damage has been reported throughout Western and Central Massachusetts.  We will be back later today with a more thorough roundup as well as our observations from an late morning tour of downtown Springfield.

For now, please check out our photos from that tour here.  The Boston Globe and Masslive also have good photos and video from the storm and the ensuing damage.  If you would like to help, you may contact the Red Cross at their website or 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).