American Red Cross Designates Union County Chapter as one of Top Performing in Nation
Monroe, NC April 24, 2007 –
The Union County Chapter of the American Red Cross, a United Way agency, has been named one of the top performing chapters in the United States. A total of 805 chapters were evaluated in fiscal year 2006 by the national American Red Cross, headquartered in Washington, D.C., and only 80 chapters nationwide received this highest performance rating. To achieve this outstanding designation, the chapter was scored on a comprehensive set of 47 performance criteria through its Chapter Performance Standards system. On May 3rd, Michele Sarno, Chapter Chair and Kathy Bragg, executive director, will receive the award on behalf of the chapter in Washington D.C.
The Union County Chapter, which is made of up four full time and five part time employees and 135 active volunteers, supports the Union and Anson County community by providing lifesaving health and safety training, responding to disaster incidents, assisting members of the military and their families, and hosting lifesaving blood drives. The chapter serves 16,000 people a year with Red Cross services. The Union County Chapter was originally chartered in 1917 and will be celebrating their 90th anniversary on June 5th, 2007.
“The Union County chapter is a very committed organization, but this award would not have been possible without the support of our community,” states Michele Sarno, Chapter Chair. “The Red Cross is not a government agency, and relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work. All of this is possible thanks to the loyal support of the people of Union and Anson Counties.”
Last year alone, the residents of Union and Anson Counties participated in 4,706 CPR and other training courses. The chapter’s Response department responded to 54 local disasters, and assisted 69 Katrina evacuee families that fled to this community. The chapter trained 90 disaster volunteers and deployed 30 volunteers to national disasters. In 2006, the Union County chapter hosted 138 community blood drives collecting close to 5,000 pints of blood. Additionally, the chapter reached out to 87 military families in need and presented disaster education topics to 5,178 people.
“This is an outstanding achievement for our chapter,” said Kathy Bragg, chapter executive. “This award is the direct result of the hard work of our employees, volunteers, donors, and community partners. We highly value our community’s trust and pledge to continue to be good stewards of donated funds and Red Cross services”
The Red Cross invites the community to attend their 90th Anniversary celebration June 5th at their annual meeting. For more information on the American Red Cross or the annual meeting, please contact the chapter at 704-283-7402 for Union County or 704-694-3514 for Anson County, or log-on to www.unioncountyredcross.org
