By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The American Red Cross of Greater Kansas City and Northwest Missouri is assisting families that were left homeless following a St. Joseph building collapse.
Six families were left without homes after a building at the corner of 10th and Patee Streets collapsed.
Red Cross executive director JoAnn Woody says a team of volunteers from the St. Joseph area worked to provide immediate assistance to those families
"We have a record where we document what some of those needs might be," Woody tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Questions that they might ask are, do you have a safe place to stay tonight? Are you ok? Did you lose any medications? Is there someone you need to call? Just kind of wrapping our arms around them on the scene."
For major damage like this, Woody points out the Red Cross also focuses on helping families with financial assistance.
Woody says when it comes to a long-term solution for these families, one of the biggest challenges is finding long term housing
"Just as many communities, St. Joseph is also facing affordable housing shortages and readily accessible, or readily available housing for these folks who have been displaced on a very immediate term," Woody explains. "So, that is typically the largest gap we see, is just getting people into a more permanent longer-term housing."
Woody says every volunteer that assisted with the families was from St. Joseph
"Every single day we're responding to events like last night in St. Joseph, or apartment fires like we had in Independence, but every single day there is a way for someone to plug into their community through one of the Red Cross programs," Woody says. "And it's an amazing way to connect on a very local level."
The St. Joseph Fire Department reports it has not uncovered any suspicious activity that might have caused the collapse. An inspector with the department suggests it likely occurred due to the age of the building.
This article has been updated since first published.
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