Supporting the Red Cross

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The American Red Cross assists natural disaster survivors from coast to coast as well as victims, who experience tragedy right here in our hometown.   

American Red Cross of Central and Southern Ohio Regional Communications Manager Don Hawkins shared how next Wednesday, March 26th, is designated as Red Cross Giving Day.

“It’s the 11th annual Red Cross Giving Day,” Hawkins said. “We do a Red Cross Giving Day every March, during March’s Red Cross Month. It’s a way for us to cap off a month of celebrating the work that we do, our volunteers, our staff, everyone who works with us. It’s a great way to honor everyone that’s doing that and giving the communities an opportunity to make a donation that helps us do that work that alleviates suffering and helps people when they’re dealing with disasters.”

Although donating blood at a blood drive event is important, the Red Cross goes way beyond collecting blood for hospitals to use in saving trauma victims. The monetary donations that are collected during Giving Day assist survivors that may not have been injured but may have lost everything they owned. 

“It’s the financial donations that fund everything that we do,” Hawkins said. “And it’s why we’re able to respond to a house fire at 4 a.m. It’s why we’re able to help set up a shelter whenever there’s a chemical leak and we need to get folks out of their homes and somewhere safe where they can have somewhere comfortable to sit and wait and see what’s going to happen. It’s all these little things that build up. And without the financial donations, we’re unable to do those.”

To donate or find more information about the American Red Cross Giving Day, you can visit them at redcross.org/giving-day.