American Red Cross Honors Volunteers During National Volunteer Week

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It's National Volunteer Week and the American Red Cross is honoring the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who help the organization assist people in need.

Nearly 330,000 volunteers serve the organization, helping staff blood drives, volunteering at veterans' hospitals, teaching people lifesaving skills such as First Aid and CPR, responding to home fires in the middle of the night and so much more.

"Every day across the country, caring volunteers are helping their neighbors and communities by donating their time through the Red Cross," said Gail McGovern, Red Cross President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are so grateful for the crucial support these volunteers provide to help people in need at all hours of the day and night."

Volunteers enable the Red Cross to respond to an average of nearly 66,000 disasters every year. They help train more than 2.3 million people in Red Cross lifesaving skills; help provide more than 352,000 services to military members, veterans and their families; and to reconnect over 2,000 families separated by war or disaster around the world. In addition, roughly 3 million volunteer donors give blood every year.

The Red Cross invites the public to be a part of the lifesaving work it does and to sign up to volunteer and to donate blood. People can go to redcross.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application. To schedule an appointment to donate blood, people should use the Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS.

The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign offers another way to volunteer and help reduce the number of home fire injuries and deaths locally. Volunteers are going door-to-door in neighborhoods at high risk for fires to install smoke alarms and teach people about home fire safety. The Red Cross and thousands of campaign partners have helped save numerous lives and installed more than a quarter of a million smoke alarms in homes all across the country since the campaign launched in October of 2014.

Read stories about Red Cross volunteers and the wonderful work they do on redcross.org.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090108/RedCrossLOGO

SOURCE American Red Cross