NEWS BRIEFS: Volunteers, blood donors needed for hurricane season

Staff reports  |  As hurricane season moves towards its peak season and experts say more hurricanes are expected, the American Red Cross is seeking volunteers to help support shelters as well as donors to give blood.

According to the National Hurricane Center, there’s a 60 percent chance of a tropical wave off the African coast developing into a tropical depression that may influence weather here.

“There have already been several named storms this year and experts report we could see 10 or more storms with winds reaching hurricane strength,”Rod Tolbert, regional executive for the Red Cross of South Carolina, said today in a press release. “It’s critical to have a trained, ready volunteer workforce to make sure we can provide disaster relief at a moment’s notice. Please train now to be a Red Cross volunteer and help if the need arises.” 

Volunteers will help at emergency shelters with reception, registration, food distribution, dormitory, information collection and other vital tasks.  After most disasters this year, the Red Cross said it still plans to open group shelters. But in some communities, it said hotels may be more appropriate if the risk of COVID-19, including the delta variant, is particularly high. The Red Cross will also continue many of the safety precautions implemented in 2020, including masks, health screenings, enhanced cleaning procedures and encouraging social distancing. 

• To volunteer, contact Herdie Mathews, Sr. Volunteer Recruitment Specialist – Regional Team Member, herdie.mathews@redcross.org or (843) 655-4176. 

If you want to make blood or platelet donations to help keep a strong blood supply, there are dozens of opportunities in the tri-county area.  You can make an appointment to give by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device. 

In other recent news:

COVID-19 rages in South Carolina.  Case numbers for the first week of August represent an increase of more than 10-fold compared to the same time in July. South Carolina health officials reported 16,400 total cases, with 11,991 confirmed, of the coronavirus between July 31 and Aug. 6. A total of 46 new deaths, with 38 confirmed, were reported this week. The percent positive, as of Friday, was 16.3%.

Sanford memoir to come out Aug. 24.  Mark Sanford, the former governor and congressman who weathered scandal only to be undone by President Donald Trump, will release his memoir Aug. 24.  Sanford’s political career spanned four presidents and played out in three acts, from an initial election to Congress to serving as South Carolina governor to an improbable second stint in the U.S. House. He also ran for president briefly in the 2020 cycle.  The memoir charts each winding phase, fittingly affixed with the 17-word title, Two Roads Diverged: A Second Chance for the Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, the Nation — and Ourselves.

Google News Initiative fellow joins City Paper. Charleston City Paper is one of 12 newspapers across the nation to host student fellows this semester as part of the Google News Initiative. Google News fellow Eric Johnson, 23, has joined the newsroom for two months.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Mississippi’s Rust College in 2021 and is currently a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City, where he is studying nonprofit management.  

State lawmakers to visit to talk, listen on redistricting.  House and Senate committee members will each visit once over the next six weeks to hear from voters as they prepare to redraw political districts in every corner of South Carolina.  Updated data from the 2020 census is expected to be delivered to state leaders by mid-August, with new population figures impacting where district lines will fall until the next census in 2030. 

Columbia senator sues after state attorney general’s anti-mask mandate.  S.C. Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia, has asked the state Supreme Court for a ruling on whether public colleges can require masks for unvaccinated students on campus after a letter by the S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.  More coverage.