The Red Cross Is On Call 24/7
Wednesday - June 30, 2010 Share
Since 1917, the American Red Cross has played a vital role in helping the people of Hawaii recover from every major disaster, including hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, major floods, landslides, air crashes, wild-fires, high surf and hostage situations.
But it’s not only the big disasters that count.
Red Cross volunteers are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, responding to fires and other disasters that occur in Hawaii every three to four days, providing food, clothing, shelter, crisis counseling and emotional support to help people get back on their feet after a tragedy.
A Windward house-fire victim who lost everything expressed his gratitude that within an hour, the Red Cross was at his home, helped his family financially, supported them emotionally and checked up periodically to make sure they were doing fine. This is what we do.
We also provide emergency communications to keep deployed military servicemembers in touch with their families during times of crisis. If a soldier is in Iraq and his father is dying, we’ll get word to that soldier so he can come home and say his last goodbye.
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Beyond providing these free services to disaster victims and military families, we train 33,000 people annually in CPR, first aid, aquatics, nurse aide, family care-giving, baby-sitting and pet first aid. Almost every weekend, our trained volunteers staff first aid stations at community events, free of charge.
For 45 years we have offered our free Summer Swim Program to adults and keiki at Ala Moana Beach. Session II starts July 6 (adults) and July 10 (keiki); register beginning June 27 at hawaiiredcross.org.
Because we work side-by-side with firefighters, police, military and civil defense, most people think that the Red Cross is a government agency. But we are not; we rely on the generosity of Hawaii’s people to provide critical services to our community. Go to our Web site and become a volunteer or donor today!
Hawaii charitable organizations may send requests for space in either Proof Positive or the free advertisement below to dchapman@midweek.com.
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