Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene washed away entire communities, Hurricane Milton ravaged Florida’s Gulf Coast and spawned an unprecedented outbreak of tornados. Thousands sought refuge in Florida evacuation shelters. It will be days before we have a full picture of the devastation left behind.  

Thus far, a dozen deaths have been counted from the storm. More than 2,000 Red Crossers are working around the clock to continue supporting families upended by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, providing safe shelter, food, water, and recovery support to families facing unimaginable loss. Red Crosser Grace Meinhofer Torres shares with ABC News Live how our teams are helping and how the public can support our disaster relief efforts. 

My family's carousel adventure began in a suburb of Chicago in the most ordinary of ways - a random decision to visit the Brookfield Zoo on a day my wife was getting her hair done. We had some sibling hiccups and arguments about who was going to ride the ladybug or the snow leopard, or the gorilla, but once we warmed up, their smiles that day were simply infectious (pictured here). I knew right away we had stumbled upon something special. I was hooked. This simple outing would spark a journey that would take us across the country, riding over 94 carousels to date, and create countless treasured memories. We've driven more than 24,000 miles in pursuit of these timeless smile makers, not counting any flight miles, and we're still going strong!

Grandparents love their grandkids—and that’s just one of the weaknesses that scammers have learned to exploit. Scammers use various specific tactics to target older victims, according to a recent ­report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). When the FTC analyzed the 1.5 million fraud reports it had received from consumers for a recent 12-month period, it was not surprising that some key differences emerged between the scams that victimized people age 60 and older and those that targeted younger people. Knowing the details of these senior-focused frauds can help older people protect themselves…

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"The Red Cross was the best job I ever had and I have applied the experience and lessons learned there in every job since. It’s not perfect; no place is. But the shared experiences and friendships I have from my Red Cross days are stronger and longer-lasting than any of my other jobs over 40 years." 

I joined the Red Cross in March 2009 as the Senior Vice President of Communications. For several years before that, I had been part of an informal Kitchen Cabinet of public affairs advisers for Suzy DeFrancis, the Chief Public Affairs Officer, who I had worked with previously in my public relations career. So, when there was an opening as SVP for the Communications Department, I was excited about the chance to work for an organization that made such a difference for people across the country and the world, as well as being able to work again with Suzy.

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