The County of Wellington has come to an agreement with the Canadian Red Cross for the provision of disaster relief services in the county.
Organizations that have an agreement with the Red Cross will receive services listed in the agreement, which are critical in the case of an emergency, explained social services administrator Eddie Alton in a staff report.
Agencies that do not have agreements can request assistance and if the Red Cross has capacity it will assist.
“In a way, this agreement is a type of insurance in the case of an emergency,” explained Alton.
“You don’t know how [much] you need these services until something happens,” said social services chair David Anderson at the May 24 council meeting.
Anderson pointed out that during a May 4 wind storm that cut off power to much of Harriston, a fire occurred in a social housing project in that community.
“Our housing department were there for the weekend, the whole weekend – but the Red Cross was there and what they did was they relocated all the residents out and they arranged for accommodation at a local motel, they arranged for food, they arranged for a lot of stuff and it takes a lot of pressure from our staff to do that,” Anderson explained.
The cost of the agreement is $22,200 per year based on 10 cents per person for the population covered, including the county and Guelph.
“The Red Cross has been around forever … you don’t know how good your investment is until you have to use it,” said Anderson.
