American Red Cross and HOPE worldwide Announce Nationwide Partnership

WASHINGTON, Thursday, January 03, 2008 — The American Red Cross and HOPE worldwide have signed a Memorandum of Understanding partnering the two nonprofits in the areas of blood drive participation, disaster preparedness and youth and young adult programs and services.

Initially HOPE worldwide will concentrate on encouraging its more than 20,000 volunteers to become Red Cross blood donors.  The effort to recruit new blood donors comes at the perfect time of the year, since January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, a time when blood supplies often fall to low levels.  Additional partnership projects are under discussion.

“This partnership is going to help people across the U.S.,” said American Red Cross National Chair of Volunteers Kate Forbes.  “Our collaboration will allow HOPE worldwide volunteers to reach traditionally underserved people in their communities in new ways, and it will further the Red Cross mission to provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.”

Forbes explained that the two organizations began exploring common goals in July when both the American Red Cross and HOPE worldwide received a Partner of the Year award at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Philadelphia convened by the Points of Light Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Services.

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.