Red Cross’s Bill Curnow Says Cash Is Best Way To Help Hurricane Sandy Recovery Efforts [AUDIO]

On Thursday's edition of Lubbock's First News, Bill Curnow of the Lubbock Red Cross talked with Tom Collins and Laura Mac about how Lubbock is helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Curnow serves on the Red Cross Board of Directors, and lived in New York City for a while. He said that around 50 members of the North Texas region of the Red Cross, which includes Lubbock, have gone up to the northeast to assist in the recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy. But Curnow said there are plenty of ways people for West Texas to help without having to travel to New York.

Curnow said that the best thing people can do is donate cash to the Red Cross. He said that cash is not only the easiest to send, but is also flexible and can be spent on what is really needed in the area, and is also spent locally to help the local economy. He added that, while he is appreciative of the donations, people need to think carefully about what they choose to donate to the Red Cross.

"There's a lot of little things that, when you're in that kind of compassionate, euphoric, you-wanna-help mode that you don't necessarily think of. And you can cause a secondary disaster if you start dropping a bunch of stuff into a disaster zone. So it has to be managed very carefully."

To donate to the Red Cross, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit redcross.org. You can also text "Red Cross" to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross.