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Be sure to check our new Volunteer Section
for areas where we need your help.
Other ways You can Help!
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Red Cross
Mission Statement:
The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers and guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
Yes You Can... Make a Gift That Will Endure Beyond Your Lifetime
A gift to the Northwest Michigan Red Cross that endures beyond one's lifetime is an investment in the future of our community. There are several ways a donor can make such a gift:
Gifts By Will:
You can make a gift through any of the following forms: – A bequest of cash, securities, stock, real estate or other property. – A testamentary charitable reminder trust, created by placing all or a portion of the state in trust to benefit family members during their lifetime, with the principle being transferred to the Red Cross at the termination of the trust.
Charitable Gift Annuity:
This is both a gift to the Red Cross and an annuity that provides income annually for a donor or recipient of the annuity while the donor or recipients are still alive. A donor transfer of $1,000 or more in cash or securities to the Red Cross can provide a source of guaranteed income for life. When the recipient of the annuity is no longer living, the invested contribution becomes a gift to the Red Cross.
Life Insurance:
Gifts of life insurance enable a more substantial contribution to the Red Cross than a donor may be able to afford during his or her lifetime. The gift far exceeds the cost of the gift to the donor, and donors simply elect the American Red Cross as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, or they may assign ownership of the policy to the American Red Cross.
A Gift That Honors or is given as a Memorial Gift:
You can honor / remember someone special, commemorate a special occasion, through a named memorial gift to the Red Cross. Such gifts provide a lasting remembrance and honor the individual for whom the gift is named.
Call 269.962.7528 for more information on how you can help secure the future of your local Red Cross.
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Red Cross Volunteer Returns
from Assisting the Iowa Floods
Zach Cahalan, an American Red Cross Volunteer recently took a disaster assignment to Des Moines, Iowa to assist the victims of the devastating floods. Zach has been volunteering with the Battle Creek office of the Red Cross since last September. During his time with Red Cross, he took many training courses to learn how to respond to disasters. Zach assisted with local house fires here in Calhoun and Branch Counties to assist with his training. He has assisted over 20 families in his time here.
On June 13th at 4pm, Zach got "the call" that his services were needed on the disaster assignment for the recent floods in Iowa. His flight flew out of Kalamazoo, MI at 6am the very next morning. Around 10:15 am on the 14th, Zach arrived in the Des Moines airport to find that all the rental cars were gone. Zach quickly found other American Red Cross volunteers that were in the same situation as him. They had just flown in to an airport with instructions to get a rental car and drive to the service center. Without having the ability to get a car, they waited for a church shuttle that drove them to the staff shelter in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In Cedar Falls, the volunteers were taken to the University of Northern Iowa dorms where they would stay for the next ten days sharing a room with a complete stranger. They bunked two to a room, with no air conditioning and temperatures over 80 degrees, these dedicated Red Cross Disaster Relief Volunteers shared a community bathroom during their stay in Iowa.
Zach received his first assignment for his trip which was client casework and outreach.
Zach′s role in the relief effort was to visit the areas hardest hit by the floods. He drove a car there to see what he could do to help the victims. If they qualified for assistance, he would authorize them to receive Red Cross assistance for food, shelter, clothing, shoes, bedding or whatever else they might have needed. Zach would assign them a credit card with a specific amount of funds on the card. A few hours later their credit card was activated and they could purchase the things they needed to meet their immediate disaster caused needs. Zach stated, "It was a great job to have on disaster assignment. I got to enter the actual disaster areas and talk with the affected victims. I had the opportunity to hear some amazing stories and see the great resolve that Iowans had in responding to this disaster. Most families had already begun the rebuilding process as soon as they were allowed back in."
Zach continued, "The areas of Iowa I served mostly were in Waverly, Cedar Falls, and Waterloo. I heard some tremendous stories from flood survivors. One man saved his neighbor′s life with a used tire and garden hose. Some families were boated out one person at a time, the last one praying that he would be able to make it out. One pregnant mother waded back into the high flood waters to save her dog. Almost everyone, I mean practically everyone outside of one person I met, was completely unprepared for the disaster. To their credit, they were told to expect flooding at one level and the actual flooding was much much worse. In short, it was by no means a life altering experience, but instead a simple chance to give back to those who needed it most. It reaffirmed my belief that we are interdependent people and we are most human when we look to meet each other′s needs ahead of our own. I saw people from a variety of cultures, lifestyles, and beliefs agreeing that helping others was the right thing to do and it was beautiful."
During Zach′s work on assignment, he also distributed clean up kits, coolers, shovels, masks, gloves, water, snacks, bleach and mops among other things to the clients. He saw approximately 6 to 8 families per day while working. He would spend from 30 minutes to 2 hours with each family assessing their immediate needs and assisting them.
When asked, Zach said that he would be honored to return and serve on another assignment in the future. He was gone for 10 days on this assignment working 16 plus hour days helping those who needed it most, the people affected by a natural disaster.
The Red Cross would like to thank Zach for volunteering to drop everything and travel around the US to assist those in need. Our local chapter has sent several other volunteers to the flooded states to assist in the last month. To learn about how you can get involved and respond to disasters like this one, please contact our local chapter at 269-962-7528 and ask for Volunteer Services or for information on upcoming disaster training.
Red Cross Seeks Building Supplies
The American Red Cross is starting to build a kid sized Doll House for a Fund Raiser. We will be collecting needed supplies to build a doll house that is approximately 5ft by 5ft with a 2 ft porch. After completing the build, we will be selling raffle tickets for the doll house for $5 each.
What we need from volunteers and donors!
Supplies such as wood, screws, shingles, siding, paint etc. Tentative completion date is in September. Do you have some leftover building supplies that you think we might be able to use on this project, a half box of siding, half a bundle of shingles, a couple of deck boards, a two by four, a half full can of stain or paint????
Please contact Angie Gresley or call 269.962.7528 if you are interested in donating to this project.
Military Caseworkers Needed!
The Calhoun County Chapter of the American Red Cross is looking for volunteers to take training to serve as caseworkers.
When a military family experiences a crisis, the American Red Cross is there to help. The Red Cross relays urgent messages containing accurate, factual, complete and verified descriptions of the emergency to service members anywhere in the world, including ships at sea, embassies, and remote, isolated locations.
Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Red Cross links members of the U.S. Armed Forces with their families during emergencies.
Also, when a service member's child is born, the Red Cross may be asked by the birth mother to deliver an announcement to the new father.
Through a worldwide network, Red Cross caseworkers:
- Verify the circumstances of a death, critical illness or injury, or other emergency affecting a service member's immediate family
- Send an emergency communication message to the service member's location
- Ensure delivery of the message
- Follow up with the family back home
Service members and military commanders rely on Red Cross emergency communications to help make leave decisions or to help service members cope with the emergency in other ways.
For more information on getting trained please call The Calhoun County Chapter at 269-962-7528.
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