The Good Life – March-April 2015

lifesaving skills for employment purposes (Childcare
Providers, Teachers, First Responders) or because
they live with a person who is disabled and might
require assistance immediately. There are also others
who simply would like to have the ability to aid or
save someone in an emergency with the proper skills
and training needed in the event it might take an
emergency medical team a few minutes to reach their
location. The Red Cross offers First Aid/CPR/AED
training courses, Lifeguarding courses, Learn about
Babysitting and Caregiving Courses and Become a
Red Cross Instructor course. There are also on-line
seminars and “table-top” hands on training courses
offered periodically.
The Dakotas Region has a fiscal budget of $2.1
million that runs from July 1 through June 30 of
each year. That requires a lot of green s-t-r-e-t-c-h-in-g
when considering the number of calls received
per year. Last year the Red Cross responded over 500
times to needy individuals during and after disastrous
events within the regional area.
Thanks to corporate donors such as Anheuser-Busch
who joined the American Red Cross’ Annual Disaster
Giving Program in 2014 with a $500,000 donation
that will help support disaster relief operations on
both a national and local level. Anheuser-Busch also
donated an additional $250,000 to support the Red
Cross Blood Services work.
Another program is the Red Cross’ “Our Supporters’
Corporate and Foundation Partners READY WHEN
THE TIME COMES.” The Red Cross trains corporate
employees from partnering corporations and
companies and returns them back to the community
as a trained and willingly prepared volunteer when
a disaster strikes. RWTC volunteers presently have
14,000 trained volunteers from 460 businesses
and organizations in 54 cities establishing disaster
zones across the county. RWTC volunteer teams have
responded to tornadoes in the South and Midwest as
well as floods on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers
and hurricanes from North Carolina to New Jersey. “It is
an efficient turn-key way to involve your company and
your employees in responding to critical local needs,
The American Red Cross
has launched a nationwide
campaign to reduce the
number of deaths and
injuries from home fires by
as much as 25 percent over
the next five years.
Visit Redcross.org
for more information.
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