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News > Press Releases |
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Red Cross Day at the State House in Trenton on March 22nd PRINCETON, NJ, March 22, 2010 – Red Cross Day was held at NJ’s State House in Trenton, Committee Room 3, on Monday, March 22nd from 10am – 2pm. Representatives from all 15 New Jersey Red Cross Chapters were on hand for a reading of a Ceremonial Resolution by Senate President Stephen Sweeney officially announcing March as Red Cross Month. This reading follows a Proclamation signed by President Barack Obama on February 24th declaring March as Red Cross Month across the nation. “We are delighted and proud that our state government has officially recognized March as Red Cross Month,” said Christy Hodde, executive director of the Colonial Crossroads Chapter in Summit. Hodde also serves as the State Representative for the Red Cross in New Jersey. The origins of Red Cross Month date back to World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to proclaim March as Red Cross Month and called on Americans to “rededicate themselves to the splendid aims and activities of the Red Cross.” During Red Cross Month, chapters across the state thank their many volunteers and encourage residents to become involved in their local chapters either through volunteering, as blood donors, financial donors or by learning a life-saving skill like CPR, AED or First Aid. The humanitarian mission of the Red Cross is critically important. Last year, New Jersey Chapters responded to 967 fires, floods, and other disasters, offering comfort and meeting the emergency needs of 1,634 families in crisis. “Our Disaster Action Teams are on call 24/7,” said Barb Flynn, emergency services director for the Colonial Crossroads Chapter in Summit. “There is no other community organization that fulfills this same role.” While each chapter provides a Disaster Action Team to serve its community the chapters also support each other for large regional disasters. When shelters are opened to accommodate residents during emergencies, volunteers from across the state will deploy to support the effort. “Recent snow storms and power outages put our state to the test. By working together through our chapter network we were able to meet the needs of thousands of people across the state,” said Art Samaras, emergency services director for the American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey. The Jersey Coast Chapter recently responded to a fire in Ocean Grove with 15 disaster responders. Five families were given assistance and the Red Cross provided emergency response personnel with blankets and hot coffee. On the scene for 12 hours as firefighters battled the raging fire, “We were a well-oiled machine providing people with whatever they needed,” said Mary O’Donnell, a key disaster volunteer and responder for the chapter. “We had two Emergency Response Vehicles and two Rapid Response Vehicles on site.” The mission of the American Red Cross is not only to provide relief to victims of disasters but also to help people prevent and prepare for emergencies. Through Health and Safety Classes, NJ Red Cross chapters taught life-saving skills, such as CPR, AED, Water Safety and First Aid to more than 185,600 individuals. “This June the American Red Cross will celebrate the 100th anniversary of our water safety and CPR programs,” said CEO of Jersey Coast Chapter Tara Kelly. “We continue to be the leader in keeping our residents and their loved ones safe and protected. Whether it is the lifeguard on the beach watching your children or the stranger in the restaurant who performs CPR on someone experiencing cardiac arrest, the Red Cross is saving lives every day.” The Red Cross remains the premier collector of blood and blood products and through chapter blood drives, New Jerseyans donated 113,378 pints of blood and 3,933 units of platelets last year. For every pint of blood donated three lives may be saved -- which translates into 340,134 lives that could have been saved through Red Cross blood collection last year. An important part of the Red Cross is the support it provides military families and their loved ones serving far from home. A cornerstone of the American Red Cross is its Service to the Armed Forces Program. Collectively, NJ chapters provided care and support to more than 3,900 military families and briefed more than 16,000 individuals on the types of assistance the Red Cross can provide through its “Get to Know Us Before You Need Us” presentations. Red Cross chapters work locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. In one week in February, the Summit-based Colonial Crossroads Chapter Disaster Action Team responded to a multi-unit apartment fire, sheltering a dozen people, deployed a volunteer to Cape May to assist in shelters established following a blizzard and sent a Creole-speaking volunteer to work as a translator on the USNS Comfort in Haiti. About the American Red Cross New Jersey Chapters of the American Red Cross # # # |
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