Red Cross asks for donations

The Lake Erie Heartland Chapter provides relief for many counties, including Lorain

The Lake Erie Heartland Chapter of the American Red Cross is wrapping up another year of responding to disasters and providing aid whenever it was needed.

The Lake Erie Heartland Chapter provides relief for Lorain, Erie, Huron, Richland, Ashland, Wayne and Holmes counties.

“We are typically known for our disaster relief and blood donations,” said Lora Taylor, disaster program manager for Lake Erie Heartland chapter.

Taylor said the Red Cross is funded entirely by donors.

“We are required to respond, but we run on donor dollars,” she said. “That being said, we have enough to help someone when we need to respond. We never have a shortage. We could, however, always use more.”

Taylor said there always is a need for volunteers.

“We rely on volunteers to aid those in need,” she said. “People can register on our website.

“When on the website, they can make a profile, and we will start a training program for what they will be asked to do.

“Volunteers are 90 percent of our mission.”

—Lara Kiefer, executive director of the Lake Erie Heartland Chapter

We cover volunteers for fire relief, natural disasters, shelter operators, blood drive operators, general instructors and more.

“Our volunteers do a great job, but we always need more.”

Lara Kiefer, executive director of the Lake Erie Heartland Chapter, said volunteers are vital to accomplish its mission.

“Volunteers are 90 percent of our mission,” Kiefer said. “I don’t think people realize that.

“I believe we have only four paid employees in the Lake Erie Heartland Chapter. The rest of our chapter is made up of volunteers.

“People view the Red Cross as a government/national entity that swoops in when disaster strikes, but it’s mostly community members volunteering to help other people in the same community.”

Other services

Kiefer said folks are unaware of what the Red Cross does when someone’s home catches fire.

“People think we just respond at the moment of the fire and that is the end to it,”

she said. “In reality, it could end being a 45-day case, based on the situation, of helping the family get back on their feet.

“We do put you up somewhere if your home isn’t liveable, but also do more in terms of helping with finding of a new place and linking people with other services in the area like mental health for those who had a traumatic experience as a result of the fire.”

Kiefer also said blood is always in demand at the Red Cross.

“People need blood all the time for a multitude of medical emergencies,” she said. “The tricky thing is blood

is something that cannot be manufactured. We need blood from others, for others, and we need some for what happens every day. We also can’t stock it for too long, because blood expires after 42 days. We also don’t have a daily influx from the same donors, because you can only give blood every 56 days.”

Kiefer also wanted to assure people that donations to the Red Cross go directly to the community.

“The money you give will go directly to Lorain County,” she said. “Based on who donates, we use their zip code and provide the funds to that local office of

the Red Cross.”

Kiefer said people also are unaware of their ‘Sound the Alarm’ program.

“The program involves the Red Cross coming to your home to install a smoke detector for free,” she said. “We also go over different exit strategies, drills and general education on what to do when a fire happens.

“We’ve had 15 lives saved in our chapter due to alarms going off in homes where we installed them. It’s a great program that more people should be taking advantage of.”

Kiefer said the next step is to work with different organizations in the Lorain

County.

“Lorain County has a great system through United Way and their partners,” she said. “We are being considered by them to join, and we would love a seat at that table.

“You need organizations to partner in order to serve the community best, and we would love to be a part of what United Way and its partners do in Lorain County.”