FLORIDA, USA — As Hurricane Ian batters Florida, crews from across the country are making their way to Florida to offer support in any way they can.
That includes Debbie Lutskas from Moses Lake, who touched down in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon. She's working with the Red Cross to run a 72-hour shelter for the thousands of people forced to evacuate.
"We support them, we feed them," Lutskas said. "We have partners to help bring them clothes and then we help them get back on the road to recovery, trying to figure out what recovery looks like for them."
Right now, Lutskas says they don't have a headcount of people needing shelter. But, already she's seeing hundreds of people at the hotel she's staying at. She said right outside, palm trees were snapping in half from the wind.
According to American Red Cross NW Region, Lutskas has been committed to helping others since her teenage years in Airway Heights. At 18, she joined the Airway Heights volunteer fire company before transitioning to law enforcement. With Airway Heights police, she balanced duties as a dispatcher, jail matron, crime scene photographer, bailiff and count clerk.
Lutskas joined the Red Cross in 2017 and since then, she has worked in shelters, assessed damage at disaster scenes and provided site security. Her deployments in 2020 included disasters in Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Baltimore, California and Washington state.
Ultimately, Lutskas's latest stop in Florida will serve as another example of her commitment to helping those in need.
Not everyone can go to Florida to help with relief, but Lutskas says donations to the Red Cross go a long way. Those donations can be made on the organization's official website.
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