But there’s another birthday this week worth celebrating as well, and arguably, just as revolutionary to our modern-day culture: The American Red Cross.

 

On May 21, 1881, a 60-year-old Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. She almost immediately redefined the Red Cross—initially an impartial organization for the relief of military wounded—by adding disaster relief to its services.

 

 

More than a century later, disaster relief remains the hallmark of the American Red Cross. Each year, the victims of more than 67,000 disasters nationwide get help from some thousand Red Cross chapters like ours.

 

All the assistance they receive is free of charge, a gift from the generous donors to our Disaster Relief Fund. Help can’t wait for headlines; we maintain this fund because we need to be able to respond before we know whether or not we will receive contributions for a particular disaster.

 

As the Red Cross celebrates its birthday, we at the St. Louis Area Chapter want to thank all those in our community to make this magnificent system of neighbor helping neighbor possible—our wonderful volunteers, our generous donors, the many local businesses who support our efforts in so many ways, and the local emergency services personnel who are often our partners in help.