Local Red Cross leader helps with Kentucky flood relief
Mar 3, 2025, 11:54 AM
LESLIE COUNTY, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 18: River, a rescue dog, stands on the bow of a boat in a flooded neighborhood during a rescue and support mission on February 18, 2025 in Leslie County, Kentucky. Severe winter storms brought torrential rains causing intense flooding in Kentucky and parts of Florida and Georgia. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — Jeremiah Lafranca, the executive director of the Salt Lake Chapter of the American Red Cross lands in Kentucky today to lead their ongoing flood relief efforts.
“I was literally in the meeting and suddenly I got a text saying, ‘Hey, you need to check your email. You got to get some paperwork done. You’re leaving on Monday.'”
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Lafranca said he was ready to jump in to help the moment he heard about the floods. He said one primary goal is to work with city officials to find those who still need help.
“The need out there is pretty great,” said Lafranca, ” … You know, we’ve got almost 200 workers out there and … they can’t stay out there indefinitely. So we want to make sure that we rotate out, that we give our workers relief but also continue to provide the important service that we’re providing out there.”
He said the Red Cross will work to reach out to residents and help connect them to financial assistance.
Lafranca acknowledged the long road ahead for those who have been displaced.
“(We’re) making sure that those people have kind of a path to recovery moving from those shelters into kind of more of a long-term solution until they can figure out their housing.”
Lafranca joins 200 other volunteers on the ground from around the country for a two-week relief mission.
Eric Cabrera is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio. You can follow him on Instagram.
