By Jessica Wilson
Java Journal Online
November 2008
Thanksgiving is the time of the year when we give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. For some people, this year has been extraordinarily tough, but there’s still reason for them to give thanks, especially to those people that have helped them.
One of the organizations many people are giving thanks to is the American Red Cross. The Red Cross isn’t just about collecting blood — the Red Cross is about helping people.
The St. Louis chapter of the American Red Cross touches 400,000 people a year through financial aid, shelter and other ways. The Red Cross uses the word “touch” because they help people in a myriad of ways, from teaching them CPR to providing financial aide following a disaster — and each of those touches has the possibility of helping someone else. Of those 400,000 touches, the Red Cross assists three families a day to recover from the “silent disasters” known as house fires. They provide shelter, food and clothing to families that have lost everything.
Jessica Willingham, a spokesperson for the local chapter of the Red Cross, says the first and most important way the Red Cross helps is by being prepared. The St. Louis chapter has been certified as the most prepared chapter in the country. A 95,000-square-foot warehouse in the region helps ensure that everything is in order when a disaster strikes anywhere in the country. The warehouse contains everything the local chapter might need to assist in a disaster, from clothing to food and other supplies needed in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
In addition, the Red Cross has pre-identified 600 locations that can be quickly set up as shelters in the event of a disaster. There are also teams of 400 volunteers who are ready to assist with whatever needs victims of disasters might have. These volunteers can also be deployed on a moment’s notice to other regions of the country to help in the aftermath of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. All of this preparedness means the local Red Cross can help 600 families before having to ask for help from another chapter.
Willingham says the Red Cross’ first goal is to “make sure a person’s basic needs are met” with food, clothing and shelter. She says that once that’s done, “disaster assessment teams are sent out to determine the extent of the damage and individual financial needs.”
Among the people the Red Cross has touched this year is 63-year-old Ann Roberts, who lost everything when heavy rain caused the creek behind her Hazelwood apartment complex to flood in September. Roberts called the Red Cross on the advice of a neighbor and was surprised by the assistance they offered and the way it was done.
Roberts says from the moment she walked in the door of the Red Cross she felt at ease. She says, “I never ever thought in my wildest dreams that I would have to take anything from anyone.” Roberts says the representatives at the Red Cross were pleasant and nice in such a devastating time, and she never felt belittled for needing help.
Roberts went to a shelter immediately after she was evacuated from her home and stayed there until a friend was able to come pick her up. The Red Cross provided her with more than $300, which she says was like $3,000 because it allowed her to buy what she needed: food, clothing, shoes and toiletries. She says the Red Cross gave her “the immediate relief of the things I needed to survive that week.” According to Roberts, what the Red Cross gave her the most was a sense of peace.
Roberts can’t say enough about how she was treated. “I just touched a small piece of what they do, and I can’t imagine what it’s like for the people who were worse off then I was.” She was stunned when a representative from the Red Cross called her a few weeks after she received help to see if there was anything else she needed. Roberts says it was nice to know they still cared.
Willingham says that in order to help people like Roberts, time is of the essence. “Since we’re a charity through and through, we can only survive with donations.” Willingham calls donations the “heartbeat of the Red Cross.”
Roberts says she’d been a donor to the Red Cross in the past, but “I never thought about where the money was going.” She says after experiencing the generosity of the Red Cross, “I now understand the importance of what I did and how important giving is to the people the Red Cross helps. Somehow, someway I’ll contribute to the Red Cross again.”
Willingham says that sentiment isn’t uncommon. She has seen people who were housed in a shelter after a disaster volunteer to serve food or do something for others while they were there. “It’s one of the most wonderful things — to see how a community pulls together in a disaster.”
To make a donation to the Red Cross, log onto www.redcrossstl.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. american.redcross.org