Kansas City volunteers give update on Sandy relief effort

KANSAS CITY - Dozens of Kansas City volunteers are in the disaster zone helping victims of superstorm Sandy.

Heart to Heart International spokesman Dan Weinbaum spoke to 41 Action News via Skype from Long Island, N.Y.

"These are fellow citizens, fellow Americans. They are need. We can help, so that's what we do," Weinbaum said. "You see that across this country, when people are in need, are in real need here, people turn out to help."

Weinbaum said Heart to Heart has distributed thousands of health and hygiene kits throughout the region. He said the shelter he's at is need of hand towels, and the organization as a whole is always in need of cash donations.

American Red Cross volunteer Jenny Schad of Shawnee, Kan., is also on East Coast.  She was unable to access Skype because the south New Jersey area she's in is still without power, so she spoke to 41 Action News over the phone.

"The main thing that we've seen is the huge shortage on gas," Schad said. "The gas lines haven't gone down at all. They've gotten so much worse. People are waiting two or three hours just to get through one of those lines."

Some of the most compelling images from the Sandy relief effort are from Halloween night. Thousands of kids lost their homes, but disaster volunteers made sure they didn't lose their spirit.

Information on how to contribute is available at www.redcross.org/mo/kansas-city or www.hearttoheart.org.