After several years of responding to devastating hurricanes like Wilma and Charley, the Lee County chapter of the American Red Cross says it’s learned valuable information about handling major disasters. The national chapter admitted this week it made mistakes after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last August. Heidi Ruster is executive director of the Lee County chapter. She says her local organization is prepared...but they can always do a better job of getting bilingual volunteers and those in ethnic communities.

“I think we are very close to being there. I think it’s a constant process for us to recruit and train volunteers that reflect our population.”

Ruster says her chapter just landed a 20-thousand dollar grant for a Hispanic outreach program.