Needs
Day to day work at the Red Cross is unpredictable. In the last year, we have responded to wildfires, earthquakes and flooding in our region.
Launched in October 2014, the Home Fire Campaign has three primary goals:
- Reduce home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent;
- Increase the number of home fire responses by 10 percent; and
- Improve assistance we provide to home fire victims.
Our Home Fire Campaign was designed to keep our community safe. We prepare individuals and families by providing critical safety education so families can "Be Red Cross Ready." In CA Gold Country, we have created more than 6,816 fire escape plans with families, served more than 15,727 people through home visits and installed more than 17,191 smoke alarms making homes safer.
Volunteers comprise more than 90% of the Red Cross workforce. Our need for volunteers is constant, and their support makes it possible to provide relief and comfort for disaster survivors, lifesaving blood products for hospital patients, emergency support for military families and veterans, and much more. We are asking individuals to #ResolvetoVolunteer with the Red Cross, with emphasis on our most-needed volunteer positions. Families across the country depend on @RedCross volunteers to deliver help and hope when it's needed most. Learn about most-needed Red Cross volunteer positions here: redcross.org/volunteertoday
The Red Cross partners with a variety of large and community based organizations. We are always looking for passionate and influential community leaders to join our Board of Directors and help spread the Red Cross mission.
In the CA Gold Country Region, our Disaster Action Team (DAT) members are on-call 24/7, ready to help whenever a home fire occurs. Thanks to close-working relationships with local fire departments and emergency management agencies, the Red Cross is usually notified as soon as a home fire is reported. Our workers, many of them volunteers, immediately contact families and provide emotional support. We listen closely to their needs and quickly take steps to meet them.
Often, we provide help in the form of a pre-loaded client assistance card, which work just like a credit card. With them, survivors purchase essentials, large and small:
- Food
- Lodging
- Transit
- Prescriptions
- Clothing
- Personal hygiene items, such as toothbrushes, shampoo and soap
- Baby items, including formula and diapers
On average, the Red Cross provides $664 in financial assistance to each household after a home fire, but assistance amounts are tailored to family size and livability of the home. Financial assistance is crucial in the immediate aftermath of a home fire, when families may not have emergency funds or cannot immediately activate their insurance. Not only is this the most efficient way to meet people's needs, financial assistance also empowers survivors with the means to purchase what they need -- an important first step toward their longer-term recovery.