As the holidays approach, American Red Cross volunteers continue to feel the impact of the hurricanes that struck the southern states. Before students leave for the break, we want to take the opportunity to say thank you for your support.
Our chapter has never experienced a demand for action as great as this one, and the response of Ohio University students, staff and faculty was absolutely amazing.
Chapter volunteers were working seven days a week to recruit, interview, train and deploy as many qualified volunteers as possible. At the same time, we needed to raise funds to help pay for the food, cots, blankets, financial help and medications that were being provided to more than one million families. The OU community came through in a big way to support our fund-raising efforts and contributed more than $21,000.
The university's efforts covered many venues, including the football games, on-campus collections, club collections, labor union drives and concerts. We deeply appreciate the support of OU President Roderick McDavis, the university administration and AFSCME.
Volunteer recruitment also went well - more than 177 community members came in to apply to be volunteers, and dozens of new volunteers were accepted, trained and deployed. Knowing that many university students, staff and faculty were anxious to travel during break, we held special training sessions on campus in early November.
We are now beginning to plan for the future growth of our chapter's disaster team. When the Winter Quarter begins, our chapter will increase our ongoing efforts to recruit volunteers of many backgrounds. Led by our campus/community minority volunteer coordinator, we will expand the Give Hope Now project, a special effort to recruit members of minority groups in the community.
Again, we wish to convey our sincere thanks to students, faculty and staff of OU for supporting the American Red Cross.
- Sandra Shirey is the executive director of the American Red Cross, serving Athens and Vinton Counties.
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Letter to the Editor
