American Red Cross hosts 2016 Giving Day

The American Red Cross is holding its 2016 Giving Day on Thursday, April 21. The one-day event is designed to rally the Wisconsin public to support the Red Cross’ critical and lifesaving mission of helping families who have been affected by disaster or emergencies, according to a release from the Red Cross.

“Imagine if every American helped just one family in the U.S. ranging from a house fire in Wisconsin to the floods of Houston,” said Wisconsin’s CEO Patty Flowers. “Think of how much good we could do – together – on Giving Day.”

Every year, the Red Cross responds to nearly 66,000 disasters nationwide – the vast majority of these are home fires – where a family has lost everything; the roof over their heads, their clothes, and their most cherished possessions. In Wisconsin, the Red Cross responds annually to nearly 900 disasters a year.

“Our mission is to help those in need, yet we certainly wouldn’t be able to fulfill our mission without the generous support of the community. By participating in our Giving Day, your help allows us to provide vital assistance to people impacted by fires and other disasters. Since January, we have responded to more than 20-fatal fires to assist families with the trauma, installed smoke alarms to help prevent more lives from being lost and we have deployed more than 50 trained Red Cross responders in the past 60 days!” concluded Flowers.  

It only takes approximately $88.50 to support a family of three with basic essentials for one day following a disaster that affects a community such as a tornado. Giving Day’s #help1family effort can help a family begin to recover from a disaster by:

  • Supporting a family in urgent need by providing them with a day’s worth of food and other essentials.
  • Delivering blankets to ensure families stay warm and can get a good night’s sleep.
  • Providing clean-up kits after a disaster including vital items like mops, buckets and disinfectant.

Donations can be made now by visiting redcross.org/givingday.  A $10 donation to the Red Cross can be made by texting REDCROSS to 90999. All donations will be processed on April 21, 2016.

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