Mother Nature was harsh this past spring. She left more than 2,000 Texas families without homes, caused the Red Cross to open 60 shelters, hand out more than 340,000 meals and snacks along with 171,000 clean-up items like shovels, tarps, rakes, mops, buckets and work gloves. Her relentless nature was responded to by a force of nature made up of 2,200 trained Red Cross relief workers from around the country, with nearly half being Texans.

Now, the Red Cross is offering virtual training courses in an attempt to recruit new volunteers to deliver their mission critical services.

“Because the sun is shining doesn’t mean this disaster has passed,” said T.D. Smyers, chief executive officer, American Red Cross North Texas Region. “It’s quite the opposite actually. Our teams will be managing the statewide Red Cross call center, conducting disaster assessments and providing casework services most likely up through August, which is why we’re appealing for new volunteers to come join us.”

Virtual training courses are being offered this weekend in the following areas:

To register as a new Red Cross volunteer, go to http://www.redcross.org/tx/dallas-fort-worth/volunteer and click on ARC Flood Relief. From there, you’ll receive instructions on how to register for the virtual training. All Red Cross disaster training courses are FREE, compliments of Red Cross donors who make the mission possible.

“My team here in North Texas has literally been working around the clock since mid-April and they’ve done an honorable job for Texans,” said Smyers. “We need some more just like them to carry us through the second half of this disaster.”