Emergency Preparedness Report

The Emergency Preparedness report was developed by the The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago in collaboration with an advisory committee. The report is commissioned by The Chicago Community Trust to support the 2040 comprehensive regional planning effort led by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.This report is the first step in creating a comprehensive plan to take bold and innovative approaches to make the metropolitan area a safer, more resilient environment for all citizens. Changes in attitude, action, and aggressive public policy will be needed to achieve this goal. The combined efforts of government, business, philanthropy, community

The Ellsworth and Auburn, Maine, Fires of May, 1933: Official Report of Relief Operations of the American National Red Cross

A summary of relief efforts by the American National Red Cross following fires in Ellsworth and Auburn, Maine, in the summer of 1933

Serving our armed forces, a primary Red Cross responsibility

Excerpt from the introductory Why the Red Cross Serves the Armed Forces : During the past 10 years, the Red Cross has expended well over half a billion dollars in service to the armed forces and to veterans -- dollars that were voluntarily contributed for that purpose by the people of this country. But even more significant are the millions of hours of volunteer effort that have likewise been freely contributed to that service through the Red Cross -- hours that, if paid for at going wage rates, would have multiplied Red Cross expenditures many fold. This volunteer service, symbolic of all that is warm and human and neighborly in American life, is the truest measure of what the Red Cross stands for in its relations with the military establishment. The American Red Cross continues to exist and to carry on its service to the armed forces of this country because there is a vital job to be done and because the American people have accepted the Red Cross as their medium of action in this department. of community responsibility. There can be no doubt that, if the Red Cross did not already exist, the people of this country would see to it that a similar organization, of equal extent and capacity, was promptly established.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1173/thumbnail.jp

Foreign war relief: September 1, 1939-December 31, 1942

Excerpt from the introductory Why Does the American Red Cross Give Relief Aid? : Under the terms of the charter given it by Congress in 1905, the American Red Cross undertook to help the people of other lands in peacetime calamities. Through the aid which has been carried on under its banner since then to all parts of the world, compassion for suffering and a desire to help have come to be regarded as outstanding national characteristics of the American people. That spirit of helpfulness is not limited to times of peace. When the second world war flamed from country to country, a great wave of sympathy for the innocent and helpless victims swept the United States. From coast to coast, the American people wanted to send aid to the women, children, and old people torn from their comfortable homes and deprived of the necessities of life, and to the fighting men made prisoners of war. The American Red Cross expanded its activities to include relief and service to those suffering from this world-wide conflict. It was possible for the organization to act promptly and effectively because of its more than 6o years of service to suffering humanity, regardless of race, color, or creed, and its extensive experience in giving relief in national and international disasters.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1174/thumbnail.jp

The American Red Cross with the armed forces

Foreword This booklet will confine itself to describing the work done by those American Red Cross men and women who are giving direct, personal services to the members of the armed forces on the military front or to their families on the home front. To isolate this cross section of Red Cross activity from the body of all Red Cross war work is to sacrifice the complete story of the Red Cross war jobs for the Army and Navy. That is a story of many themes -- to name only a few: jobs as essential as collecting blood for plasma; or supplying surgical dressings, comfort articles, garments for the hospitalized; or recruiting nurses; or training nurse\u27s aides. Nevertheless, the American families of some 11,300,000 servicemen want to know the answers to particular, personal questions: What is the American Red Cross doing for the serviceman himself? What are its representatives doing for him when he is homesick and worried, bored, restless, sick or wounded? What are they doing for him in the field, the leave area, the hospital? What are they doing when he returns home, discharged, and has problems resulting from his service? The trained men and women who are, we are told, at his side -- who are they, what facilities do they have to work with, and exactly how do they work? Finally, how do the Red Cross chapters here at home help him and his family? This booklet tries to answer these questions for the millions of deeply interested families and neighbors of men and women in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. In so doing it must stick closely to them and to those personal Red Cross services which are theirs wherever they go, whatever their jobs.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1175/thumbnail.jp

Amenia Chapter of Red Cross ledger, 1917-1919

Ledger consists of receipts and disbursements for the Amenia Chapter of the Red Cross, Junior Red Cross records, and membership lists with amount donated by each member