Please take part in Red Cross Giving Tuesday as #HelpCantWait

Tim Poe, American Red Cross Volunteer.

In my various capacities as an American Red Cross volunteer the last few years, I have seen the impact of your donations, whether financial support, donating blood, or volunteering time and expertise. I have seen the moment in people’s faces when despair turns to hope following a disaster and they begin focusing on recovery, the appreciation of first responders receiving food and beverages while working at a large-scale event, and the caring during the organized bustle of blood drives. I have also been fortunate to speak with veterans and their families assisted by the Red Cross, met people who saved lives with the help of Red Cross training, and worked alongside incredibly kind and dedicated fellow volunteers and staff members. I, my family, and friends have also benefitted from the Red Cross in our personal lives, both through lifesaving blood donations and a deployed relative brought home after his mother passed. None of this would have been possible without donations.

The monetary value of items I have seen provided varies, from a cup of coffee and toiletries to food and safe shelter to the pricelessness of needed blood and assistance from well-trained people.

On Giving Tuesday, please consider donating to the Red Cross. The effectiveness of your donations is tremendous and, as this recent article states, needed now more than ever. This year alone Northern Ohio Red Cross staff and volunteers responded to nearly 1,200 disasters, aiding more than 1,800 people.

There is also a critical need for blood—the Red Cross distributed 250,000 more blood products this year—while the pandemic caused fewer blood drives and donors, a 32% decrease in Northern Ohio and a 34% drop nationally. The Red Cross’s blood supply is at its lowest in more than a decade.

Also, the COVID-19 pandemic, severe weather, and global conflict have created tremendous demand for Red Cross services and posed significant challenges. Nationally, the Red Cross launched a new major relief effort every 11 days to provide refuge, food, and care. Families displaced by disasters spent an average of nearly 30 days in a Red Cross-supported emergency shelter. In addition, 2.1 million essential items were provided to evacuees and children seeking asylum.

To provide a sense of scale for the impact of your donations, each day the Red Cross:

• helps nearly 170 families affected by a home fire or other disaster,
• collects about 12,500 blood donations to help people in need,
• provides critical aid to members of the military, veterans, and their families around 1,400 times,
• along with its partners, helps provide more than 683,000 rubella vaccinations to children,
• and provides lifesaving training to nearly 13,000 people.

To help provide financial support, please visit this link. To schedule a blood donation, please see here. And to explore volunteer opportunities, please click here.

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