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Red Cross opens multi-agency 'one-stop-shop' centers across Benton County to assist tornado recovery efforts

Services available include health, mental health, legal, and damage assistance.

ROGERS, Ark. — At the Rogers High School cafeteria on Wednesday, the Red Cross and their partners set up a Multi-Agency Response Center (MARC) for residents impacted by the recent tornadoes that killed four and damaged countless homes.

"This is helping to adjust,” said the Executive Director for the Red Cross in Northwest Arkansas Julie Brown. “This is a place where people can come for a one-stop shop for client services. We will still be here. We're not going anywhere until we get as many clients serviced as possible. 

MARCs were set up in Decatur on Monday and will be in Rogers until Wednesday, with others set up in Summit on Thursday and Mountain Home on Friday. 

Services that were included at the resource center included legal, health, and damage assistance from companies such as Legal Aid of Arkansas, the Salvation Army,  United Methodist Disaster Response, and many others. 

Throughout the day Tuesday, people from all over Northwest Arkansas were going through the process, looking for help from a variety of organizations. 

"We're here providing assistance and information for disaster survivors,” said the Director for Disaster Services at The Salvation Army Kevin Chinault. “The Salvation Army is providing gift cards for those who have received property damage, and a lot of the other agencies here are providing other assistance.” 

To help bridge the language barrier and assist with documents, Brown said Spanish and Marshallese translators were on to help. 

Locations of upcoming Multi-Agency Resource Centers: 

  • Rogers High School Cafeteria, 2300 S. Dixieland Rd
    • Tuesday, June 11 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
    • Wednesday, June 12 from 10 a.m. -  5 p.m.
  • Marion County Fairgrounds, 513 E. Seawell Ave, Summit
    • Thursday, June 13 from 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Community Outreach Coordinator for the Consulate General of the Marshall Islands Carolina Edwin said she was there to help advocate for Marshallese citizens through the recovery process.

“We know that there are about over 20 families that were affected, so we're here to mostly translate, interpret, and to walk them through the process,” Edwin said. 

Although the recovery process is still going to take some time, Brown reminds the community that the Red Cross is on hand to help. 

“We've seen such a tremendous outpouring of support from these communities, whether it's Decatur or Rogers all the way through Yellville to Mountain Home,” Brown said. “We cover a lot of territory, and as everyone knows, there were seven tornadoes on the ground just through our Northwest Arkansas corridor, so we have teams out in all of the communities."

According to the Red Cross, individuals and families applying for assistance should bring identification and verification of address to be eligible for assistance from some of the applicable agencies. 

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