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Happy Birthday, American Red Cross One hundred and twenty four years ago this month, on May 21, 1881, a 60-year-old woman founded the American Red Cross. Her name was Clara Barton, and 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. Locally, in the past year, the Gaston County Chapter has helped fifty seven families devastated by fire and other natural disasters. With the help of 179 local volunteers, our goal is to take care of the immediate needs of people affected by fires, floods and other natural disasters—make sure they have a temporary place to stay, food to eat, clothes to wear so that they can go to work or school and take the next steps forward. 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 Gaston County 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.
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2002 American Red Cross, Gaston County Chapter |
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