American Red Cross Delivers Critical Supplies to Haiti

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bill Harrison

804-780-2256

804-396-0162

American Red Cross Delivers Critical Supplies to Haiti

Tens of millions spent or committed for key priorities of food, water and shelter

WASHINGTON, Thursday, January 28, 2010 — In an operation that has involved more emergency response teams than any other single-country disaster in global Red Cross history, the American Red Cross has so far spent or committed more than $67 million to meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors in Haiti.

The American Red Cross is currently focusing on three areas through its emergency responders and partners:

Sending food to those in need, including 3 million pre-packaged meals and funding for World Food Program efforts that will enable them to feed up to 1 million people for a month.

Providing clean drinking water, including 3.5 million liters distributed to date in 68 settlements. Each day, the Red Cross is distributing enough water for 100,000 people.

Distributing shelter items, such as blankets, tarps, sleeping mats and tents, to families who have been left homeless.

The Red Cross is also meeting the health needs of Haitian survivors and providing support to Haitian families in Haiti and the US. This includes providing relief supplies, shipment of blood products, family linking services and providing Red Cross volunteers to the USNS Comfort, which have been in Haiti for one week.

To date, 79 percent of the funds have been committed or spent on food and water; 18 percent on shelter items; and the remainder on health and family services.

More than 49 flights carrying Red Cross aid have arrived in Haiti. Additional planes, ships and trucks carrying Red Cross humanitarian assistance are en route. For example, yesterday, 15 trucks of relief supplies arrived from Santo Domingo. A new Red Cross warehouse with more than 50,000 square feet of capacity is also now operational in Port-au-Prince, which means that relief supplies have a safe place to be stored ahead of distribution.

Although the current focus is on addressing urgent needs, the American Red Cross is also looking ahead and applying experience gained after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. For the past five years, the American Red Cross has been working with partners in Southeast Asia to construct water and sanitation systems, provide emotional support and health care, build shelters, restore livelihoods and prepare communities for the next disaster. The American Red Cross plans to offer a similar level of support in close collaboration with Red Cross partners and other international and local aid organizations in Haiti.

People can donate in support of the relief effort in Haiti at www.redcross.org or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS. Mobile donors can text “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 contribution. A $10 donation made through mobile giving can provide a family with two water cans to store clean drinking water, basic first aid supplies or a blanket appropriate to the climate.

You can help the victims of countless crises, like the recent earthquake in Haiti, around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.

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Valentines for Vets

This Valentine’s Day, join the American Red Cross in sharing your care, support and thanks for the special group of men and women who are hospitalized veterans of the U.S. armed services. The Greater Richmond Chapter of the Red Cross in conjunction with the National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week, Feb. 8 – 14th, invites you to select a heart today and provide much-needed items to support the daily care of these courageous war heroes.

Your donations will be distributed to veterans at Hunter Holmes McGuire Richmond VA Medical Center (McGuire RVAMC). The McGuire RVAMC services are available to over more than 200,000 veterans from central and southern Virginia as well as parts of northern North Carolina. The Center is also the primary national facility for veterans with spinal cord injuries.

To learn more or to select your gift please visit the Chapter’s website.

RICHMOND RED CROSS HAITI CALL CENTER BUSY OVER WEEKEND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 17, 2010

Bill Harrison

804-780-2256

804-396-0162 (cell)

RICHMOND RED CROSS HAITI CALL CENTER

BUSY OVER WEEKEND

About 500 Calls on Saturday, Still Coming In Today

Due to the community’s response to the earthquake in Haiti, the American Red Cross, Greater Richmond Chapter, is remaining open over the three-day holiday weekend. That strategy proved warranted as Saturday the Chapter’s Haitian Call Center received about 500 calls.

“From the very beginning a few days ago our phones have been ringing nonstop,” stated Chapter CEO, Reggie Gordon. “Whenever there is a disaster, the community turns to the Red Cross and that expectation carries grave responsibilities that we take very seriously. Our paid staff and cadre of volunteers stepped up to the plate as they always do. That’s what we do. That is why we are here in the first place.”

Among the people who visited the offices yesterday was a native of Haiti in hopes of finding a way to help. She and Red Cross officials are meeting next week to strategize more ways of reaching local Haitian people. “That has been one of our major concerns, reaching Haitian people living in Greater Richmond to make sure they know the help Red Cross can provide such as searching for loved ones,” said Gordon.

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American Red Cross

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American Red Cross Help Continues:

American Red Cross President and CEO, Gail McGovern, will travel to Port-au-Prince on Monday to meet with Red Cross leadership from around the world and to visit service delivery sites.

There are thousands of Red Cross workers, representing 30 countries on the ground assisting with relief efforts.

Seven truckloads of materials that were flown through the Dominican Republic will arrive in Port-au-Prince today.

A cargo plane, in partnership with FedEx, will arrive in the region on Monday carrying Red Cross relief items that will help 20,000 families. Items include blankets, mosquito nets and hygiene items.

As of January 16, more than 19,300 people have registered on the ICRC’s web site in an effort to locate missing loved ones. Over 1,400 people have also used the site to say they are safe.

Three planes, one carrying a field hospital left Friday. The other two carried tarps, blankets, hygiene items, buckets and other emergency supplies.

As of January 16, the American Red Cross has raised over $87 Million for the relief effort. The organization knows it will spend much more than that to help the people of Haiti.

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