Update: Ready When the Time Comes working in California | 01.10.2008 | 08:39:07 | Views: 6129 | ID: January 10 '08: The Red Cross' Ready When the Time Comes program has been working to prepare communities and their businesses for disasters by recruiting local volunteer teams and training them to help respond in a disaster. Earlier in October, the Mid Hudson News reported that a local non-profit, Elant Inc., had been working with the Red Cross to recruit and train seniors develop emergency response skills. In the article on the Red Cross' page, the damage to Southern California businesses was cited as one motivating factor for pushing such initiatives - "the wildfires that burned last fall damaged or destroyed hundreds of businesses and forced thousands more to close or cut back operations because their employees had evacuated their homes and south shelter." According to the California Farm Bureau Federation, more than $47.5 million was lost in agricultural damage alone. The hardest hit were the avocado farmers who lost about 1,722 acres to the fires which killed the delicate avocado flowers. In Orange County, CA about 30 corporations and small businesses have signed up for the program. Standard Pacific Homes has been chosen to be the area sponsor for the RWTC program.
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