Did You Know...?
Little-known Facts about the American Red Cross
and Polk County Chapter
Updated: June 3, 2008

It’s quite common for people to be surprised that the American Red Cross Polk County Chapter stays as busy as it does, even when there are no large-scale natural disasters in the area.

It’s also common for people to be surprised that roughly 96 percent of our workforce is volunteers, that 91 cents from every dollar donated to the American Red Cross goes to disaster-related client assistance, or that home fires make up the vast majority of our local disaster calls.

Here are more things you might not have known:

•  Although, the American National Red Cross was founded in 1881, the American Red Cross Polk County Chapter, has served Polk and Highlands County communities since 1917.



•  Just a few months after the American Red Cross was founded in 1881, it provided its first major disaster repsonse to a devastating forest fire in Michigan.



•  The mission of the Red Cross is to provide relief to the victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.



•  The Red Cross is not a government agency. It is a not-for-profit humanitarian organization reliant on donations.



•  Local volunteers often provide immediate emergency assistance to families that have lost their homes due to fire. Typically, the local chapter helps roughly 183 families each year by providing food, clothing, temporary shelter and relocation assistance. With one month left in this year, that number is more than 225.



•  The Red Cross has provided health and safety services, including CPR, First Aid, and water safety, to people for more than 90 years as a part its mission of emergency prevention and preparedness. The Polk County Chapter offers CPR for infants, children, and adults, as well as basic aid training and training for professional rescuers.



•  The Health and Safety Department offers Community and Workplace Training. More than 13,000 people in Polk and Highlands counties are trained each year in lifesaving skills.
•  The Polk County Chapter offers a course in Pet CPR and First Aid to help care for injured pets until they can be seen by a veterinarian.



•  The local Red Cross delivers emergency messages and provides financial assistance each year for more than 300 family members of local service men and women serving overseas in the U.S. Armed Forces.



•  Red Cross volunteers at Winter Haven Hospital and Regency Medical Center work more than 5,500 hours each year, knitting caps and booties for newborns, delivering flower arrangements to patients, assisting families in the surgical waiting room and manning the information desk.



•  The local American Red Cross Polk County Chapter must raise local funds for local services, such as single-family fire responses, while American National Red Cross helps fund large disaster operations, such as last year’s Midwest flood and California wildfire responses.



•  The Red Cross does International Welfare Inquiries, working with other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies when families lose contact after conflicts such as war and civil unrest.



•  American Red Cross disaster assistance is provided to people in need without charge. This is made possible by voluntary donations of time, money and blood from the American people.

The story of the American Red Cross continues to unfold. It’s about partnerships, generosity, endurance, courage, compassion, and caring. Essentially, it’s a story about the American heart, told by those who served and continue to serve every day and every year, preventing and alleviating human suffering wherever it occurs.

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