The Valley’s Sixth Red Cross Vehicle Heads to Houston

A couple plans to be in Texas by Sunday to help storm victims for two weeks

FARGO, ND — The Red Cross helped bring the response vehicle all the way from Rochester, Minnesota to Fargo.

It can carry a crew and meals to feed up to a thousand people in areas of disaster.

So begins the three hour drive from Bismarck to Fargo to start Molly Zosel and Lance Houer’s journey.

“I’m used to driving so it shouldn’t be too bad for me,” Houer said.

The couple volunteered to drive the Red Cross Dakotas Region’s sixth emergency response vehicle to Hurricane Harvey shelters in Houston.

“I did live in Fargo for a lot of years and I lived through a couple floods here, personally experienced them in my own home and Red Cross was there to help,” Zosel said. “It’s just maybe time to give back too.”

Kids at Ben Franklin Middle School helped raise more than $500 for the Red Cross to help support Hurricane Harvey victims.

“They got a big heart and they also know what it’s like to battle a flood, sandbag and some of that heartache that goes with that,” said principal John Nelson.

The money will go towards sheltering, food, water and comfort kits to be handed out in the emergency response vehicle Zosel and Houer are driving.

They had to learn how to drive the truck before getting behind the wheel.

“We had some driving training, we had some classroom time,” Houer said. “We also had to complete a defensive driving course.”

He said mentally preparing to drive into a natural disaster is a different story.

“I think it’d be hard to prepare yourself,” Houer said. “I think each day you’ll experience new things and acclimate yourself to what’s going on.”

Zosel said it’s worth taking the risk because they need the help down south now more than ever.

“We have to support them,” Zosel said. “They’re part of us, part of our country. We have to work as one and we have to support each other.”

Since Zosel and Houer left, there are now a total of 25 volunteers who deployed to Houston from the Red Cross Dakotas Region.