Ice Storm Hits Van Wert

Night at the shelter.

Friday December 19th, 2008 The American Red Cross responded to a request from the local EMA that there were people out of power and needing a shelter.  The Van Wert schools offered a shelter in their Goedde Building at 205 W. Crawford Street.  At 5:00 PM the shelter was opened for business.

We received our first guests at 5:15 as tenants from Homestead Village were registered and admitted to the shelter.  We sheltered 12  people and provided  dinner and snacks.  Saturday brought a drop in temperatures and high winds which compounded the problems for Van Wert.  As power was turned on our clients were able to go home, only to have the power off again and they returned.

Saturday the shelter provided relief to 7 guests for the night.   Red Cross served 40 snacks and 47 meals over the two and 1/2 days.  By 4:00 PM Sunday, power was restored and clients were able to return to their homes.  As the shelter was closing the Red Cross received notification that one person had lost power to their apartment and the Red Cross put that person up in a hotel for the night.

The Red Cross would like to thank the following organizations for their help and support during the storm.

• McDonalds
• Van Wert City Schools (Goedde Building and custodians)
• Klostermans
• WalMart
• Hong Kong Buffet
• Burger King
• Wendy’s
• Family Video
• Counsel on Aging
• Fountain Inn
• Grief Bros. (For the donation of  storage barrels)