Figure 1.-- Here we see a New York City Red Cross Chapter only a few months after Pearl Harbor opening a new office for all its war time programs. Chapters klike this would provide services asc well as organising fund raisung efforts for Red Cross programs. Photographer: Charles W. Cushman.

The American Red Cross consists of chapters organized by communities across the country. The primary purose is to collect money from the public or organize a variety of drives in local communities, most prominently blood drives. Red Cross chapters primarily provide food, clothing, shelter, transportation and medical assistance to individuals and families impacted by local or national disasters. While locally based, they may respond to calls for assistance elsewhere in the United States or sometimes overseas. The funds are used to finance the various ARC programs. And react to emergency situations such as floods and tornadoes. These are disasters that are beyond the capability of affected local communities to deal with, necitating a national organization to respond with emergency assistance. And in the case of war, the needs of American servicemen. The funds collected help mauntain the national organizstion that coordinates the needed disaster relief operations. They are the backbone of the organization. The individual chapters are the organizatuin's on-the-ground units, directly serving their local communities. As non-profit entities, they miostly consist of volunteers with amall paid staff.

Created: 9:42 PM 9/9/2023
Last updated: 9:42 PM 9/9/2023