Following the earthquake in Haiti last month, the American Red Cross provided an information table in Heritage Hall in the Pioneer Student Center to talk with UW-Platteville students about volunteer opportunities with their organization.

According to the American Red Cross Web site, they provide domestic and international disaster relief, community service, blood and blood product distribution, educational programs promoting health and safety and many other public services.

While the Red Cross is always looking for students to help with their annual blood drive, they are currently recruiting further help, including Disaster Action Team responders. According to the Red Cross, Disaster Action Team responders are trained to go into a disaster area and provide organized relief efforts. In a time of crisis, the Red Cross says a person cannot just show up and ship out to volunteer for disaster relief, instead they require every volunteer to enroll in their program and go through a minimum of 14 hours of training to become certified before heading to a disaster site.

Since the eathquakes in 7.0 magnitude that rocked Haiti last month killing at least 200,000 people, the Red Cross says they have been overwhelmed with volunteers hoping to donate their time to people affected by the disaster.

“Last week is when the volunteer rush peaked. This week it has finally started to taper off, but we still have people looking for ways to help,” said Mary Y. de Moya, a volunteer services manager for the Badger Chapter of the Red Cross based in Madison.

De Moya also said students should consider getting trained now, so that when disaster strikes they can leave right away rather than spending valuable time getting trained before leaving.

“Becoming enrolled in a Red Cross program is a good way for students to get involved now, and possibly make a long-term commitment to helping others,” de Moya said.

Dustan Garrigan, junior technical education major, stopped by the table. He was looking for ways to volunteer in the Platteville area.

“I helped with blood drives in high school but I haven’t done anything since. After the disaster in Haiti, I want to do my part and I know the Red Cross is reliable,” Garrigan said.

For more information visit the American Red Cross Web site at redcross.org or e-mail volunteer@arcbadger.org.