00:00It has been a busy busy month and after weather disasters the American Red Cross is on the ground
00:06to help anywhere and year round. Now tomorrow is a chance for all of us to give back. Wednesday is
00:13Red Cross Giving Day and here with more is Stephanie Fox from the American Red Cross.
00:18So tomorrow it's the big day on the Red Cross calendar. What is the origin and the importance
00:24of Giving Day? Yeah thanks for having me this morning. As you said tomorrow is Giving Day and
00:31this is really a month-long celebration that culminates in a day of giving. All March long
00:37we are celebrating the people who make our mission possible. Blood donors, those who are
00:41trained in life-saving skills, those who provide generously with financial donations, our volunteers,
00:48really the people that make it possible for us to deliver our mission each and every day
00:53when moments matter. And tomorrow we are going to be gathering everybody to hopefully join
01:0030,000 people to celebrate the 11th version or 11th event for us for Giving Day to help
01:10and to support those needs that we see every single day in our communities.
01:14Where are some of the places where the Red Cross is helping now following recent
01:19tornadoes, wildfires, and dust storms? It's been such a busy month.
01:24It really has and in fact Red Cross responders actually respond every single day in communities
01:29whether that's to a traditional house fire which we typically see each day across the country
01:35or these larger scale events and that could be things like wildfires, tornadoes, and floods.
01:40Right now our teams are on the ground still working in communities in Mississippi,
01:44in Missouri, and Oklahoma. We also have teams on the ground in the Carolinas working for folks
01:50who've been impacted by those recent wildfires and of course we're still responding to the
01:55wildfires that happened in Los Angeles in January and ensuring that those folks have
02:01recovery plans and that we're collaborating with them to ensure that their needs are met.
02:06And the donations from Giving Day, are they going to be directed towards particular programs this
02:10year? So the donations to Giving Day are to disaster relief and what that does is allow us
02:16to respond each and every day of the year to those large or small scale disasters. It allows us to
02:22prepare communities to ensure that we can provide support in the immediate aftermath of an emergency
02:29or a disaster and also provide long-term care as well and kind of navigate those recovery steps
02:35that each community has to endure and go through in the aftermath of a disaster. And Stephanie,
02:40beyond monetary contributions, what are some other ways to get involved and support the Red Cross
02:46efforts? There are several ways to get involved. We've seen a lot of blood donations unfortunately
02:52go uncollected this year because of so much severe weather. There have been a lot of cancellations,
02:57so we encourage folks who are feeling well, who are willing and able to make an appointment to
03:02donate blood. You can also put on a red vest, join us as a Red Cross volunteer and support with
03:08your time. And then of course making those financial contributions on Giving Day or any
03:13day of the year. And you can do all of that by visiting redcross.org. Stephanie Fox, American
03:18Red Cross spokesperson, thank you so much for joining us here in AccuWeather Early. Thank you.
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