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Curry County proclaims March 2026 Red Cross Month; volunteers cite volunteer and transport challenges
Summary
Curry County commissioners voted to proclaim March 2026 Red Cross Month. Local Red Cross volunteers described services, a regional shelter exercise in April and a logistics gap: trailers can no longer be pulled with personal vehicles, creating a need for memoranda of understanding with local governments to move equipment.
The Curry County Board of Commissioners on March 17 unanimously proclaimed March 2026 as Red Cross Month, acknowledging regional disaster response, blood drives and community programs run by the American Red Cross Cascades region.
Karen Johnson Desh and Liz Colo, Red Cross volunteers, described volunteer activities in the Cascades region, including smoke-alarm installs, blood drives, the emergency and pet-first-aid apps and local shelter support. "We're able to go out there and help people at the worst of times," Johnson Desh said.
Volunteers told the board that a national exercise in April (described in materials as "Thunderbolt") will require rapid openings of several shelters in Curry County and noted a local constraint: Red Cross trailers previously towed with volunteers' personal vehicles are now restricted by Red Cross insurance policy. Volunteers said the organization is seeking memoranda of understanding with counties and cities to provide tractors or other equipment to move trailers without individual volunteers incurring insurance risk.
"We may be trying to work out some memorandums of understanding with the counties and the cities," a volunteer said, asking the board to consider the transport issue as part of preparedness planning. Commissioners agreed to pursue a follow-up discussion to find a solution before the exercise.
The board read the resolution recognizing Red Cross contributions in the region and approved it by voice vote. Red Cross representatives also announced a series of local blood-drive dates in April and invited county support for alarm-installation outreach and trainings.
The proclamation and the volunteers' operational concerns were recorded in the meeting packet; commissioners encouraged continued coordination between Red Cross volunteers and county operations staff.
