As many gather for Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends, the Red Cross urges donors to give thanks and give back by making a financial donation to help fund life-saving mission work. “Consider partnering with us during the holidays by visiting redcross.org/car to provide a financial donation, schedule to give lifesaving blood or give the gift of time by volunteering,” said Erica Mani, CEO, American Red Cross Central Appalachia Region. “Back-to-back disasters, large and small, led to a series of blood drive cancellations, which further strained the national Red Cross blood supply that was already dwindling from summer travel and back-to-school activities,” said Mani.
In 2023, the intensifying extreme disasters took a devastating toll on people in the U.S. who turned to the American Red Cross for help coping with a record number of billion-dollar disasters. So far this year, an all-time high of 25 billion dollars in disasters have ravaged communities across the country, in addition, families sweltered in the nation’s hottest summer on record.
Locally, the Central Appalachia Region so far this year has assisted nearly 1,100 families impacted by disaster, over 4,000 free smoke alarms installed making 1,500 homes safer, collected 49,000 units of blood, trained over 30,000 people in lifesaving skills and provide over 2,000 services to local military members and veterans.
“With the growing frequency and intensity of disasters, the Red Cross is racing to adapt its services and grow its disaster response capacity across the country, that includes increasing our local disaster volunteer teams,” said Mani. “The Red Cross has expanded financial assistance programs for major extreme weather disasters to help families bridge critical recovery gaps, such as security deposits for new housing and costs for home repairs.”
In 2023, the Red Cross distributed $108 million in financial assistance directly to people after disasters of all sizes. The Red Cross is delivering this vital financial assistance on top of its immediate relief efforts — including safe shelter, nutritious meals and emotional support — which have been provided on a near-constant basis for this year’s relentless extreme disasters.
In fact, this year’s onslaught of large disasters drove an increase in emergency lodging provided by the Red Cross with partners — with overnight stays up more than 50% compared to the annual average for the previous five years. Home fire is the nation’s most frequent disaster. To help prevent home fire-related deaths and injuries, the Red Cross launched the Home Fire Campaign with community partners in 2014.
Since 2014, the Red Cross Central Appalachia Region installed more than 50,000 free smoke alarms making nearly 20,000 homes safer and saving 117 lives and counting. To request a free smoke alarm installation, please call 1-844-216-8286 and select option 2 or visit bit.ly/FreeSmokeAlarms.
The Red Cross Central Appalachia Region thanks the people and partners who stepped up to address other emerging needs for communities, including:
≤ BLOOD DONATIONS: As the nation’s largest blood supplier, the Red Cross is grateful for the millions of donors who rolled up a sleeve throughout the year for patients in need.
To further improve people’s health outcomes, the Red Cross has been working with community partners to introduce blood donation to a new and more diverse generation of blood donors — which is critical to ensuring that a reliable blood supply is available to the 1 in 7 hospital patients who need a lifesaving blood transfusion.
The holidays can be a challenging time to collect enough blood for those in need. To book a time to give, visit RedCrossBlood.org, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App or call 1-800-RED CROSS.
To celebrate the upcoming Prime Video release, Candy Cane Lane, those that come to give blood in December will be automatically entered to win a holiday prize package, including a $1,000 Amazon.com Gift Card and 65-inch Omni QLED Series Amazon Fire TV. There will be 12 winners. Plus, those who come to give Dec. 1-17 will get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by email. Terms for both offers apply. See rcblood.org/Amazon. Candy Cane Lane features an all-star cast, including Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross, and directed by Reginald Hudlin.
≤ LIFESAVING TRAINING: This year, the Red Cross expanded its training to empower people to act during current-day crises — which is vital considering that nearly half of U.S. adults report being unprepared to respond to a medical emergency.
This included launching the new “Until Help Arrives” online training course last spring for opioid overdoses, severe bleeding, cardiac arrest and choking emergencies, and partnering with professional sports leagues through the Smart Heart Sports Coalition to help prevent tragedies among student athletes by offering CPR training and increasing access to AEDs.
≤ MILITARY FAMILIES: Red Cross workers helped service members on U.S. military installations and deployment sites worldwide — including in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. As part of our support this year, Red Cross volunteers delivered emergency communications messages connecting more than 87,000 service members with their loved ones during times of family need, while also engaging members in morale and wellness activities during deployments.
≤ INTERNATIONAL: As part of the world’s largest humanitarian network, the American Red Cross supported international response efforts to disasters such as this year’s massive earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria, the drought and hunger crisis in Africa, and flooding in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
This has included providing millions in cash assistance, food, shelter, basic supplies, medical care and mental health services.
As devastating conflicts persist in other areas of the world, the global Red Cross Movement continues to provide aid for people suffering, including those in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza, as part of its neutral, humanitarian mission.
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Red Cross responds to growing disaster-driven humanitarian needs - Marietta Times
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