The Red Cross in Corozal Town: every day hundreds, if not thousands line up at the office in the Santa Rita area. It's like NEMO without the red tape; visitors to that office get sure and almost instant relief. But 8 days after the storm hit, it's becoming a bit much. Chairperson of the Corozal Red Cross and the woman at the front and center of the relief effort is Gloria Gilharry and she says she is overwhelmed.
Jules Vasquez,
What's happening? This place looks chaotic.
Glory Gilharry, Chairman - Corozal Red Cross
"It is. It is a chaos right now. We can't control it, you see how we are trying to get the people to the front and they come to the back and they just keep following but we are trying to control it now because we have a computer inside and we are kind of putting everything into the system so more or less I think we will be a bit under control, not fully."
Jules Vasquez,
So the problem is that you all have been giving supplies out freely. I have heard there have been thousands of people passing through this office, that you have been giving it freely and people have started to abuse that.
Glory Gilharry,
"They've abused (it) and even apart from that are still complaining. There was a lady who called on the radio and said they come and they don't get anything and we know that is totally untrue. But as I mentioned before, we are working on different sections, different villages we have that we are working."
Jules Vasquez,
You still have supplies, food and water to distribute? Are you in need?
Glory Gilharry,
"Well at the present moment, you see all these people here, they are waiting for food supply that we told them we would have gotten today and I have a list of over 400 names and we don't have the bags in there to give them. So they go, they come and it's a chaos. It is a chaos here. I am telling them that I am getting supplies. I get calls that we will be getting from Orange Walk, from PG, but they just can't wait. Sometimes we have to even close the door because they just pour in on us, pushing even us in there so we have police here 24 hours, just to kind of like control the crowd."
Jules Vasquez,
Is it need or is it greed?
Glory Gilharry,
"Now, I think it is more greed than need because so far we have given so much and all these people here, the faces just keep repeating. It just keeps repeating."
Jules Vasquez,
Ms. Gloria you've been immersed in this for a week, are you fatigued, overwhelmed?
Glory Gilharry,
"I am. I don't know how long, I'll just pray that good Lord keeps giving me the strength to carry on and go along with it because I've been here from morning, I get home maybe 10 or 11 in the night, and just up again in the morning I am here."
On the upside for Gilharry's good samaritan came to fix her roof over the weekend. Her Red Cross office is still accepting donations and getting those donations out to villages.
