It’s National Volunteer Week and the American Red Cross honors our hundreds of thousands of volunteers who help the organization achieve its mission of helping people in need.
More than 300,000 volunteers serve the organization, helping staff blood drives, volunteering at veterans’ hospitals, teaching people lifesaving skills such as First Aid and CPR, responding to home fires in the middle of the night and so much more.
Volunteers enable the Red Cross to respond to an average of nearly 64,000 disasters every year. They help train more than 5.9 million people in Red Cross lifesaving skills; help provide more than 391,000 services to military members, veterans and their families; and to reconnect more than 6,400 families separated by war or disaster around the world. In addition, as many as 2.8 million volunteer donors give blood every year.
The Red Cross invites the public to be a part of the lifesaving work it does and sign up to volunteer and donate blood. People can go to redcross.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application. To schedule an appointment to donate blood, people should visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS. People can also download the Red Cross Blood Donor App to schedule and manage their donation appointments. To download the app, text “BLOODAPP” to 90999 or search “American Red Cross.”
SPECIAL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign offers volunteers a special opportunity to help reduce the number of home fire injuries and deaths by 25 percent over the next several years. Since the Home Fire Campaign started in 2014, it has been credited with saving at least 348 lives (as of January 31, 2018). Volunteers have already installed more than 1.1 million smoke alarms in cities and towns across the United States.
The Red Cross and its partners will be out in communities between April 28 and May 13 to Sound the Alarm against home fires and install 100,000 free smoke alarms in just 16 days. You can help by visiting SoundTheAlarm.org and volunteering or making a financial donation.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
Your time and talent can make a real difference in people’s lives.
Support all the urgent humanitarian needs of the American Red Cross.
Find a drive and schedule a blood donation appointment today.
Take a class and be ready to respond if an emergency strikes.
