Newsroom
General News
01.13.2010 American Red Cross urges “Day On” of service
CHARLOTTE - On Saturday, Jan. 16, the American Red Cross, Greater Carolinas Chapter and Hope Worldwide are partnering to distribute life-saving fire prevention and safety information to residents in Charlotte. Volunteers are honoring the nationally recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday by taking on a day of service during their time off work.
Hope Worldwide is partnering with groups across the nation. One of the featured service programs for the third year in a row is the Fire Preparedness Reach Out program with the Red Cross. Over 40 Chapters of HOPE worldwide will be canvassing in low income, fire vulnerable areas alongside Red Cross volunteers, engaging in conversations about fire safety and emergency planning, as well as installing new smoke detectors for families who need them.
As the Red Cross mission is to help the community prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies, volunteers will go door to door to talk with community residents about fire safety.
“The Red Cross is a volunteer-led organization, with about 34 volunteers for every one staff member locally,” said Pamela Jefsen, CEO of the Greater Carolinas Chapter. “Taking a ‘day on’ of service when most people take the day off captures the Red Cross mission.”
Volunteers will hold a kick-off for the project at 8 a.m. Saturday at The Charlotte Church (1200 Graham St., Charlotte, NC 28203). From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., volunteers will engage in one-on-one conversations with residents throughout Charlotte to increase awareness about fire-prevention strategies. Volunteers will be distributing information to neighborhoods where Red Cross Disaster Action Teams respond the most.
Red Cross Disaster Response provides assistance for food, clothing, shelter and other immediate basic needs to victims of disasters such as home fires and floods. The Red Cross locally helped 479 families last year after such disasters. All Red Cross disaster assistance is provided at no cost to our clients. This is made possible through the generosity of our volunteers and donors.
More than 10,000 HOPE worldwide volunteers nationwide have already pledged to take a day of service over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and meet needs of community members through 95 sites planning projects across the country. We anticipate through the various service activities that will be going on, over 25,000 volunteer hours will be served by our volunteers, reaching over 120,000 people through this one holiday.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.redcrosshelps.org or join our blog at http://redcrosshelps.org/crossblog.