Kuwait’s $25 Million Donation Used to Build New Chapter Facilities along the Gulf

As Hurricane Season Draws near Funds are put into Action to Help Improve Local Response Efforts

WASHINGTON, Thursday, July 27, 2006 — Fifteen Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) have been purchased and four chapters in the Gulf Coast area will receive new headquarter facilities thanks to a $25 million donation by the State of Kuwait and the Kuwait Red Crescent Society. The donation is the largest current and recorded single donation received by the American Red Cross.

In response to Hurricane Katrina, last February, Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer, Vice President of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, and Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Sabah, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait presented the American Red Cross with $25 million. With approval and insight from Dr. Al-Sayer, the American Red Cross determined that the donation would best be used for infrastructural improvements for future Red Cross disaster response, including four new chapter buildings and fifteen emergency response vehicles in gulf coast states.

“The American Red Cross extends its sincere appreciation to the Kuwait Red Crescent Society for their extremely generous gift and continued support,” said Jack McGuire, President and CEO of the American Red Cross. “With Kuwait’s assistance, we can rebuild and improve our chapters along the gulf coast, helping us to be better prepared for and better able to respond to upcoming disasters.”

The fifteen ERVs will be positioned in hurricane impacted Red Cross chapters in August, just in time for the most active part of hurricane season.

“I saw first hand how important the ERVs are to your relief operation when I visited the chapter in New Orleans,” said Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer. “I wish you every success in your projects and I hope this money will continue to help you in the future.”

The four chapters, headquartered in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mobile and Tallahassee, were chosen so that they can be hubs for disaster operations in the Gulf for future disasters. The focus of the improvement project is to create an environment that would increase the chapters’ ability to support disaster preparedness and response.

“We are extremely excited for this opportunity and immensely grateful for Kuwait’s overwhelming generosity, said Kay Wilkins, Chief Executive Officer of the Southeast Louisiana Chapter. “Our chapter has a long history of being impacted by storms and Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage to our headquarters facility. This is an amazing opportunity for us and the communities we serve and will greatly enhance our chapter’s capacity to respond to all types of disasters.”

Red Cross National Headquarters will work with representatives from the four chapters to develop a standard design of the chapter facilities based on what was learned during last year’s hurricane season. The standard design will be applied more broadly to the chapter environment; however, each facility will be customized to fit its specific community needs.

It is expected that these new facilities will be operational within the next two years.

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.