More local Red Cross volunteers heading to Connecticut

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Seventeen more Red Cross volunteers from western Massachusetts will be headed to Connecticut on Thursday to help with the recovery effort from Hurricane Sandy.

The Red Cross has already deployed two local groups of volunteers down to help those affected by the devastating storm.

This latest group will work in disaster assessment over the next one to two days. Thousands of people up and down the Eastern Seaboard have been receiving meals and staying in Red Cross shelters following the storm. A total of more than 2,300 disaster workers have already been deployed to affected areas.

“This response to Sandy is just getting started,” Red Cross Regional Director of Communications Dawn Leaks said in a statement sent to 22News. “The storm has left devastation in its wake, and we will be helping people for weeks to come.”

Fifteen of the volunteers from this latest group are from the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, while the remaining two are from the Berkshire County Chapter.