Events are often seen as fun things but for the American Red Cross, more often than not, events mean incidents. Isn’t it amazing how the choice of word affects its perceived meaning? Being called out to attend an event for ARC volunteers doesn’t mean stressing over what to wear or scheduling a trip to the salon to get your hair and nails done it means turning up, prepared for anything and willing to do your bit to help alleviate the pain, chaos and anguish that frequently accompanies these events.
Manning around the clock canteens and being available to administer first aid; floods, tornadoes, terrorist attacks and anthrax scares are among the ‘events’ that the Washington DC Chapter has had to attend over the years. None of this would have been possible if it hadn’t been for the monies raised in many different ways, including car donation, which the public manages to do year on year for the ARC.
Making sure that our service personnel overseas can stay in touch with their families is a sort of long-distance, long-running event, again that is maintained through public support like car donation and the men and women in the offices who check through clerical work to make sure contact and information is up to date are magnificent. This event is ongoing as our men and women in the forces continue to keep our country and the world a safer place.
Events require personnel and resources and these need funding; cash contributions and auto donations are tax deductible means of making a difference and with the auto donation option you don’t even have to arrange pick-up, it’s done for you. That’s got to be good. Even this service, collecting a vehicle donation, has to be done by people who give up their time in service to the community regardless of the circumstances or the location presented. The American Red Cross always works impartially and without prejudice at events large or small. Blood drives and blood mobiles are regular features on the calendar and are such a commonplace thing we tend to forget that this seemingly small event is essential to our hospitals – even outside disasters.
