Celebrating World Red Cross Day 2001

Celebrating World Red Cross Day 2001

Written by Becky Orfinger, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

Red Cross Day on CNN

American Red Cross history will be the topic of a special Ask CNN segment airing today, Tuesday, May 8, in recognition of World Red Cross Day. The segment, which will air at 2 pm, 9pm during Larry King Live and 12 midnight (EDT), will answer viewer questions about the American Red Cross. Find out:

The worst disaster the American Red Cross has responded to
Who founded the American Red Cross
Where the American Red Cross is working around the world

May 8, 2001 — Today is World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, and adults and children around the world are celebrating in inspiring ways. In New Mexico, thousands of local school children clad in red shirts are banding together to form the world's largest outline of a red cross. San Francisco's legal community is taking part in a seminar on human rights law co-hosted by a representative from Magen David Adom, Israel's Red Cross equivalent. And around the world, tens of millions of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are continuing to help refugees, educate young people about HIV/AIDS, and attempt to reunite family members separated by war, just as they do every other day of the year.

World Red Cross Day falls each year on the birthday of Henry Dunant, the Swiss citizen who founded the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in 1863 to help alleviate the suffering of war victims. Dunant called for the humane treatment of the sick and wounded during wartime after he witnessed their suffering during the Battle of Solferino in 1859. During that battle, and all others prior to it, wounded soldiers were left to die on the battlefield or be killed by the opposing army.

Helping A young girl, holding her new Easter teddy bear, exchanges smiles with a Red Cross disaster volunteer after flooding in Lexington, Miss.

Since the time that Dunant first conceived of the idea of the Red Cross, the Movement has grown to become the largest international humanitarian aid organization in the world. Today, 173 countries have Red Cross or Red Crescent societies, all of which work to promote the same mission: to save lives and alleviate suffering in their local communities and around the world. The Magen David Adom society in Israel is that country's humanitarian organization, or Red Cross equivalent.

The American Red Cross, which was founded by Clara Barton, dispatches more than 1.2 million volunteers each year to help victims of disaster both in the United States and abroad. In honor of this World Red Cross Day 2001, the American Red Cross is using its Internet presence to spread the word about the many ways in which its workers and volunteers help relieve suffering across the globe. Visitors to the American Red Cross Web site, http://www.redcross.org, can now send an educational "eCard" to their friends, family and co-workers with a click of the mouse. Web surfers can choose to send one of six images accompanied by information about the lifesaving services of the American Red Cross. "The future belongs to those who change with the times, and we're using the Internet to enable more people than ever to help us save lives," said Dr. Bernadine Healy, American Red Cross President and CEO.

It can take the Mongolian Red Cross weeks, travelling by trucks across trackless ice and snow, to reach remote communities. Photo courtesy of the Federation.

In addition to launching the eCard campaign on a national level, many American Red Cross chapters are marking World Red Cross Day with special activities. The American Red Cross of Central Texas, celebrated the organization's international presence by hosting the first annual "International Festival," on Saturday, May 5 at Waterloo Park in Austin. Visitors enjoyed a taste of the food and culture from various countries in which the Red Cross is working, including Algeria, Panama, China, Mexico and Vietnam.

In Charlotte, N.C., the American Red Cross Greater Carolinas Chapter is celebrating World Red Cross Day by reaching out to the corporate community. By sponsoring a company-wide Red Cross awareness fair at Royal & SunAlliance, a European company whose U.S. headquarters are in Charlotte, the Greater Carolinas Chapter will spread the word about the humanitarian work done under the umbrella of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

"Henry Dunant and his American protégé, Clara Barton, used the technology of their own era — newspapers and telegraphs — to spread the Red Cross word," said Dr. Healy. "More than 140 years ago, they established the universal Red Cross idea of saving and protecting people in the path of war, disaster and injury that have now endured through three centuries."