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Highlands Today

Red Cross National Day Of Giving Saturday

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: December 12, 2008

SEBRING - Saturday is the American Red Cross National Day of Giving and volunteers with the local American Red Cross branch will be at Lakeshore Mall from noon to 4 p.m. to accept donations.

Service Center Coordinator Art Harriman said the American Red Cross's booth will be located in the center of the mall where the fountain used to be across from the mall entrance to Bealls and the Hickory Farms kiosk.

"We're going to have a booth where people can come and donate monetary funds at that time," said Harriman. "We're going to have information on the National (American) Red Cross' activities during disasters. This one is to raise funds for national.

"Then I'll go back to fundraising for local after that."

Local contributions are down about 43 percent, he said.

Funds will all go to the national office unless otherwise designated.

The National American Red Cross disaster fund stepped in when disasters hit Highlands County in 2004 with hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, providing about $4 million in disaster relief for the 2004 storms.

"They brought in mobile units, we call them M-trucks, with fully staffed offices and case workers to help with the recovery," Harriman said.

Many of those folks worked out of the Disaster Recovery Center set up at the former Highlands County Agri-Civic Center, once the special needs shelters were dismantled.
Highlands County Emergency Management Director Bill Nichols said Thursday that in his position he doesn't really delineate between the national and local levels of the American Red Cross.

He just contacts the local office and they show up.

"The American Red Cross played an active roll in providing services to our people - feeding and providing shelter," he said.

The American Red Cross volunteers helped man a long-term shelter in Avon Park at the Avon Park Seventh day Adventist Church fellowship hall after the hurricane shelters closed, for people whose homes were severely damaged in the storms, he said.

"They handled it so completely that I didn't have to get involved with it," he said. "I just sent the people there.

"(The American Red Cross was) also instrumental in feeding the emergency workers; police, fire, emergency workers repairing the lights. We had to be able to provide for these people so we were able to deliver a response."

Harriman said the sending of volunteers worked as an outreach as well when local volunteers in past years helped deliver services to residents in Kansas, North Dakota, Virginia, twice to Texas, Kentucky and Alabama, when disasters struck there.

"Where ever it's needed," said Harriman. "If we've got local people that can go, we send them and the National American Red Cross will pick up the bill for them, but I have to put the money out and they reimburse me."

They opened a shelter recently when we were having wind chills in the 20s, said Nichols. "Temperatures were expected to be in the 30s. The Red Cross staffed that shelter for us and they helped the county staff when disasters happen.

"When there is a brush fire the Red Cross volunteers show up with food and refreshments for the firefighters," he said. "They are a valuable partner in our emergency response system. They provide support to our on-scene emergency responders."

Phil Attinger is the American Red Cross Polk County chapter public information officer serving Polk and Highlands counties.

This National Day of Giving is part of the organizations effort to raise its $100 million fundraising goal for its Campaign for Disaster Relief, he wrote in a news release.

"This fund was depleted as a result of a very busy year of disasters including a record number of tornados, severe flooding in the central United States and an active hurricane season," he wrote. "From January through October 2008, the Red Cross had already responded to more than 70 large-scale disasters."

Highlands Today reporter Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 of jseelig@highlandstoday.com .

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