RED CROSS SUCCESS STORY

It was 2 a.m. in the morning and the Red Cross Disaster Action Team pulled up to the house.  The head beams of the truck highlighted the family of 5, in their pajamas, shivering as the rain came down. The family was watching their house burn to the ground.  My team got out, put on their vests, pulled blankets from the truck and started wrapping up the family in the warmth.  The team moved the three children to the truck, handed them a stuffed animal.  As they shut the door, one of them ran to the lady of the house as she started screaming.  The firemen had just pulled their dead pets from the house.  The team made arrangements for a hotel through the weekend, clothing for everyone, food and more than anything else, they sat with the family until their family could arrive to help them start preparing for rebuilding their lives.  The team listened, as the family talked about what was lost, counted their blessings that no one was injured – after all it was just stuff and then the family talked and started planning about what they would do next. 

A Red Cross trained lifeguard was doing some shopping when he witnessed a man grab at his chest and slump to the ground.  Instead of looking the other direction, the lifeguard jumped into action, called 9-1-1 and started doing the lifesaving techniques he was taught.   This man’s life was saved because there was someone close by that was Red Cross trained and knew what to do. 

As the nation’s largest, independent, nonprofit humanitarian organization, the Red Cross is there, every day, helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies