FORT MYERS, Fla. — The American Red Cross and a local organization are conducting disaster preparedness exercises in Fort Myers' Dunbar community, helping residents prepare for potential natural disasters.
The partnership between the American Red Cross and STEM CAT, a local organization, aims to establish community hubs that can provide natural disaster resources when needed.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report:
"When a national disaster happens, we're ready to act," said Dr. Jesse Bryson, CEO of STEM CAT.
Bryson manages an urban community farm in the Dunbar area and believes this is the first time a natural disaster simulation with the American Red Cross has been conducted in his community.
"Now it's an asset that everyone will be able to see that there's things out of Dunbar that we can help the greater Lee County. So it's not always about us receiving, it's also about the Dunbar community actually giving to Lee County," Bryson said.
American Red Cross representatives met at the urban community farm to demonstrate emergency response vehicles that distribute food during disasters.
"We do not heat it. It's actually like a kitchenette. It just holds the food that our partners are either giving cooking for us and or they actually distribute them already individually packed and it holds up to 400 degrees inside of our cambros," said Hortensia Anderson, American Red Cross Regional Mass Care Manager.
Anderson gave a walkthrough of five vehicles that can each hold up to 100 meals.
"We chose Fort Myers because it's a food desert and it supports the community to know that these are the vehicles that we use to distribute food when there is a disaster that strikes," Anderson said.
Some crews took vans into the community with STEM CAT boxes full of locally grown produce from the farm.
Through their programming, they provide seniors with a meal every Friday. The organizations emphasize that being prepared starts before a disaster hits, and their goal is to familiarize the community with the vehicles' capabilities.
"Our community adaptation has partnered with STEM CAT, and we're really excited about the urban community gardening that is only here in Dunbar. And so the partnership really is help to help community resilience, not just during disaster events, but all year round," Anderson said.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
