Emergency Services Newsletter - Southeastern PA

March is 64^th Annual Red Cross Month

By Tom Foley, CEO

By presidential proclamation, March is Red Cross Month, and has been every year since President Franklin Roosevelt first proclaimed it in 1943.   

President Ronald Reagan could not have imagined the historic Red Cross response of this past year when he remarked in the 1987 Red Cross Month presidential proclamation: “No one can predict when the next river will flood or the next storm will hit. No one can foresee the next threat to the nation's health. What is predictable is that we will face such threats and emergencies, and that the American Red Cross will be there to offer help and hope.”

The past year has been especially remarkable for the Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter.  When Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast on August 29, devastating an area as big as Pennsylvania and New York states combined, volunteers who are the heart and soul of the Red Cross rushed to respond.

The SEPA Chapter sent 300 volunteers from this area to the hurricane zone, and opened an emergency call center in Philadelphia, where another 309 local volunteers provided aid, comfort and a helping hand to 28,516 people looking for loved ones or stranded on rooftops in Mississippi and Louisiana.  We served 885 Gulf Coast evacuees who came to Southeastern Pennsylvania.  And we trained 1,143 new volunteers for this and future disasters.  On top of all that, people in the five-county SEPA area donated $39 million to relieve the suffering of nearly four million hurricane victims.

How did the Red Cross spend all the money contributed by Americans for hurricane relief? 

The American Red Cross built a $2.116 billion bridge of assistance, giving hurricane survivors $1.56 billion in urgently needed financial aid in the desperate weeks before federal money was available.  We provided 3.5 million warm, safe nights sleep in 1,200 shelters.  We served 31 million hot meals, and another 30 million snacks.   We reunited 700,000 storm-tossed evacuees and family members through the Red Cross national hotline and website.

            And while all that was happening since August 29, the SEPA Chapter’s 3,770 local volunteers have responded to 541 fires, floods and building collapses right here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, offering comfort and assistance to our friends and neighbors when disaster struck at home. 

The Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania reaches nearly a million Philadelphia-area residents every year, bringing people together under the most recognized symbol of hope worldwide. Driven by volunteers, the Red Cross serves people every day with critical disaster relief; lifesaving CPR, first aid, AED and safety training courses; youth leadership programs; HIV/AIDS prevention education; and community disaster education programs in schools.

President Reagan got it right when he said no one can predict the next storm.  That certainly was true during the past record-setting year, which featured both the South Asia tsunami, the largest international disaster ever, and Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. 

In this Red Cross Month of March, as we prepare to celebrate the Red Cross’ 125^th birthday this year, we rededicate ourselves to the principle that when disaster strikes our neighborhood, the nation or the world, the American Red Cross will be there to offer help and hope.