Valley Red Cross volunteers provide virtual help to tornado victims

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Red Cross volunteers from the Central Valley are now helping tornado victims without ever leaving their homes. It's part of a new virtual deployment program.

One volunteer in Mariposa and one in Kern County are helping process paperwork online for families affected by the tornadoes. Those documents are necessary to get funding and other resources approved for the disaster victims. Staff members say it's a more cost-effective way of offering assistance.

"Any time we deploy a volunteer from the Central Valley, it means that we have to spend money on things like airplanes, hotels, food for those volunteers to travel and live in those communities that they're serving. When we do a virtual deployment, we're saving those donor dollars and are able to spend more money on the clients that need the assistance," Red Cross Regional Director of Communications Jessica Piffero said.

Of course, other Red Cross volunteers are still on the ground in Oklahoma and Texas providing face-to-face assistance as well.

If you would like to help, you can make a donation or learn more about volunteering by visiting redcross.org.