Hurricane Irene is headed toward the East Coast and the American Red Cross is mobilizing disaster workers and equipment along much of the eastern seaboard to help those in the path of this powerful storm.

· Milo Streitmatter of Toulon (Peoria area) is heading to Newark, NJ in preparation for Hurricane Irene. Milo will serve as the Procurement Manager for the operation there. He will be leaving from the airport in Peoria tomorrow morning at 5:45 am.

· Jerry Olden of Tolono (Champaign area) is heading to Manchester, NH also in preparation for Hurricane Irene. Jerry will be a Shelter Supervisor on the Red Cross operation there. He will be leaving tomorrow, but we are not sure what time as of yet.

Jerry and Milo are joining two other Central Illinois Chapter volunteers, Jerry & Martha Scheirer of Metamora, who left Wednesday morning for Raleigh, NC. Jerry and Martha took the chapter’s Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), and will deliver meals to residents in affected areas after the storm passes.

Hurricane Irene is a category 3 storm and could affect a large swath of the East Coast later this week with wind and heavy rain. American Red Cross chapters from eastern seaboard states are getting ready for Irene which is the first major hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season. Thursday morning, the Red Cross began opening shelters in North Carolina as evacuation orders went into effect. Dozens of additional shelters are being prepared up the East Coast. Trained Red Cross disaster relief workers and relief supplies are mobilizing for a full East Coast response. About 200 mobile feeding vehicles are already moving towards North Carolina and Virginia where Irene is predicted to make the first U.S. landfall.