By Joyce Mackin
August 06, 2008 06:55 am I am proud to be a Greater Manchester Red Cross Volunteer. I would like to share with the public some facts about how your chapter is run. The Red Cross disaster relief focuses on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs following a disaster. When a disaster threatens or strikes as it did recently in Deerfield, we were there. In keeping with our mission it was imperative for us to respond to the needs of the residents of Deerfield to provide shelter, food, health and mental health services to assist the residents affected by this tornado and their basic immediate needs. The core of the Red Cross disaster relief is to assist individuals and families affected by disaster to enable them to resume their normal daily activities independently. If needed, the Red Cross can provide the means to pay for necessary items, including groceries, new clothing, temporary housing, emergency home repairs, transportation, essential household items, medicines and occupational tools. All assistance is based on verified disaster-caused needs. The Red Cross also feeds disaster victims and first responders, handles inquiries from concerned family members outside the disaster area and helps those affected by disaster to access other available resources through Community Organizations Active in Disaster. The Greater Manchester Chapter of the American Red Cross responds to local disaster in Manchester and 16 neighboring towns, serving approximately 280,000 individuals. We are the only nonprofit organization that provides disaster education and immediate relief to the community. Your chapter only has seven paid personnel and many dedicated and well trained volunteers. The American Red Cross receives no federal financial support and relies entirely on the generosity of the public to help their friends and neighbors. This has been an extremely busy and important year for the Red Cross in Manchester. We are busy training thousands of individuals in lifesaving skills such as CPR, first aid, water safety and baby-sitting while managing what has proved to be one of the most active years in disaster response. From January 2008 through the end of May 2008, the Greater Manchester Chapter responded to 23 fires and assisted 273 individuals as well as provided Mass Care to emergency responders who were there for gas leaks, water main breaks, brush fires and business fires. Needless to say, all this takes money. Even though we are under the umbrella of the National Red Cross, each chapter is independent and responsible for its own funding for disasters and expenses. Each fire, each family, each individual, each storm, flood, tornado, each cup of coffee, snack or hot meal we deliver, each gallon of water, diapers, stuffed animals for the small children, depending on the need, it all costs. We pay the same $4 a gallon of gas that you do in order to fill the tanks of our van and emergency response vehicles. We depend on the generosity of our communities for their monetary and business donations to help their neighbors. Our chapter is 96 percent volunteer driven and thus we rely heavily on the volunteers to help carry out our mission and daily operational activities. No one can predict when a family will need the services of the Greater Manchester Chapter, and I pray that your family will not. But in case it does, please rest assured that if you need assistance from the Red Cross at any time, your local chapter will be there to assist you and your needs. That is what I do as a volunteer, and if you care to join me, please call your Greater Manchester Red Cross at 624-4307 to volunteer your time or donate money. It will change a life, starting with your own.
Joyce Mackin is a resident of Derry. She is a Red Cross volunteer and a member of the Red Cross Disaster Action Team.
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