Red Cross volunteer Jennifer Pluhar spent her birthday helping more than 25 people displaced from their apartments after a fire in Minneapolis on February 23. Like hundreds of other Red Cross volunteers across Minnesota, Jennifer puts her own life on hold to help others during a great time of need. People rely on Red Cross volunteers to help them find safe and warm shelter after disasters. Sometimes they count on volunteers like Jennifer to hold a hand, listen and support them on the path to rebuilding their lives.
Jennifer’s contribution, along with hundreds of other volunteers across Minnesota, is invaluable. This is why the American Red Cross sets aside the month of March as Red Cross Month, a time to celebrate our everyday heroes and to ask you to become one of our newest community heroes.
The Red Cross depends on people like you to deliver help and hope to others, both neighbors and strangers, during emergencies. During the 2015 fiscal year, the American Red Cross Minnesota Region supported 2,541 people affected by local disasters, provided 2,459 emergency communications to military families and trained 122,656 people in lifesaving and caregiving skills. And, people from this area donated 215,091 units of blood. These acts of service truly save lives.
March is the time for you to become a community hero by taking two simple steps. First, be ready for the next emergency by creating a preparedness plan for your home. Find help at redcross.org. Second, test your smoke alarms, and ask your neighbors to do the same. If you don’t have smoke working alarms, click here to get free smoke alarms in your home. You can also sign-up to be a Red Cross volunteer, blood donor or financial contributor by going to redcross.org/mn.
Thank you Jennifer. And thank you to all of the Red Cross volunteers, donors, and contributors in this region, across the nation, and around the globe who assist others during life’s darkest hours.
American Red Cross 