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Red Cross right on scene when tragedy struck in area

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ANDREA GALABINSKI The Rev. Charles J. Kanefke was the Red Cross volunteer that responded to the North Fort Myers fire.
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ANDREA GALABINSKI A trailer was destroyed by fire in North Fort Myers at about 4:30 a.m. - a Red Cross volunteer had paperwork and provisions for the family by 7 a.m.

If you were up early last week, you may have seen saw a trailer fire unfold.

What you may not know is that the American Red Cross, through a volunteer, was on the scene after the call to the fire department at approximately 4:30 a.m.

The volunteer stabilized a family that lost everything by about 7 a.m.

John Cain is the director of Disaster Services for the local Red Cross. His volunteers make a difference, he said.

“We average about eight to ten calls a month all over Lee County. That is mainly house fires where we send the volunteers,” he said.

“The people that respond are called a Disaster Action Team — volunteers that are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They respond to any situation where a family has been displaced by a disaster. Our basic purpose is to see to immediate needs are met,” he sd.

In this case, a team wasn’t readily available, so an experienced volunteer handled the work on his own.

The volunteer, who identified himself as Charles, is actually the Rev. Charles J. Kanefke, the Pastor of Cape Coral’s Trinity Lutheran Church.

“I’ll be doing this about four years in August,” Kanefke said. “About 5:35 a.m. I got the call.”

He said he got directions, filled a cooler with water and got going.

“Then I stopped quickly to get doughnuts for them (the family) because I thought they could use them,” he said.

Fire investigators usually need time to finish their work, so he had the time.

He is typically on call 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., one week a month, but had just a day and a half before he responded to an 11:30 p.m. call to a fire in Lehigh close to the Hendry border.

That was another total loss, and the family needed help.

“We just want to make sure they have a place to go and something to eat immediately, then refer them to other organizations that can help with housing and perhaps furniture,” said Cain. “What if you lost everything — not know what to do next? They are stunned.”

That North Fort Myers family was provided a hotel for two nights. They and others are eligible for a special debit card that gives them food immediately.

The volunteers often are in pairs, with about 45 minutes to an hour to finish the paperwork.

Fire Investigator Frank Rizzo of the North Fort Myers Fire District could not say enough about the dedication of all of the volunteers that aid local residents in need.

“We can always, always count on them,” he said.

Although he did not personally handle that investigation, he said, “They are really good at what they do, basically an important resource we count on.”

Kanefke said a funny thing was that when he got involved, it was not only his living but his scouting background that made a difference.

“As an Eagle Scout and a scouting leader, I was trained to help people with disasters. It’s how I’m wired, but as a paster, it is part of my calling,” he said.

He encourages anyone interested to become a volunteer.

“It’s pretty easy work to do, they train you well and we could use a lot more people,” he said.

For information on how to volunteer, go to website arclcc.org. Also, donations are always accepted in these hard economic times, Cain added.