Couple Brings Baby to Shelter to Ensure Family Safety

On the second day of their stay in a Red Cross emergency shelter, Shannon Lawrimore and Ivan Garcia Rodriguez were helping set up cots with a little help from their toddler, Roger, and a Red Cross volunteer.

Residents of an older model mobile home in a flood prone area, the family was seeking safe shelter from the impending winds and rains of Hurricane Matthew.

“I wanted more protection for the baby,” Shannon said. “Now we are safe and we know the baby is safe if something does happen. I just wanted to know we’d be okay and that nothing bad would happen.”

A native of South Carolina’s Horry County, Shannon Lawrimore knows about hurricane threats and takes them seriously.

“We started preparing when the emergency officials first started calling for evacuations. We looked up the shelters online and packed up everything we thought we might need—food, water, clothes, toiletries and even a blowup mattress,” she said.

For baby Roger, they also brought a foldup play pin and stroller.

Roger helped his family set up the new Red Cross cots and blankets that had been delivered earlier by some Red Cross volunteers as they settled into the shelter out of harm’s way.

Photos and story by Angela Nicholas/American Red Cross