On Oct. 30, the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy hitting local shores, U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, thanked American Red Cross Delmarva Region volunteers Joe Miller of Hockessin, Richard and Charlotte Duffy of Rehoboth Beach and Glenn Sholley of Lincoln at a reception in his office. All were deployed during last year's storm.

“Sandy’s impact up and down the East Coast was devastating and heartbreaking,” said Carper. “New York, New Jersey, and parts of New England were hit particularly hard. In Delaware, we did not experience the level of devastation that was inflicted on our neighbors to the north, but our state did receive significant damage. This morning, I met a handful of Delawareans who were called to action by the Red Cross to volunteer in the shelters and communities in Delaware, New Jersey and New York. The extraordinary efforts of these volunteers who left their homes to help those they never met are commendable. In the days and weeks following Sandy, they stopped their lives to help others, and for that, we are truly grateful.”

The storm was one of the worst in memory and prompted evacuations in each county in Delaware and tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage to communities up and down the East Coast. The Red Cross deployed more than 17,000 trained workers from all over the country - most of them volunteers - to run shelters and provide food, relief supplies and support for months after the storm hit, and the organization is continuing to help people recover and rebuild.