Volunteers head to Miami to help victims of tornado
By Times Staff Writer
Published April 2, 2003
TAMPA - Seven volunteers from the Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross headed to Miami on Tuesday to provide aid to victims of a tornado that struck neighborhoods there last week.
The Thursday twister, which caused an estimated $13-million in damage, killed a 64-year-old man and injured 12 others. A number of families were left homeless.
The Tampa Bay volunteers have been assigned to Liberty City to help families who lost their homes find temporary places to stay, said Nicole Paksoy, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross chapter. She said they plan to stay there for up to three weeks.
The volunteers are Wally Waldspurger and Paul Cunningham of Pinellas County; Manda Slater, Christina Bentley and Sarah Halbrook of Hillsborough County and Bill Hanlon and Marge Woodruff of Pasco County.
All volunteers are required to have a minimum of eight hours' training and to have worked at least three local disasters before they can respond to a national disaster, Paksoy said.
"When they show up in Miami, it's not going to be a foreign thing to them," Paksoy said.
[Last modified April 18, 2003, 13:17:22]
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