American Red Cross LA

As one of the nation’s premier humanitarian organizations, the American Red Cross is dedicated to helping people in need throughout the United States and, in association with other Red Cross networks, throughout the world. We depend on the many generous contributions of time, blood, and money from the American public to support our lifesaving services and programs.

Clara Barton and a circle of her acquaintances founded the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1881. Barton first heard of the
Swiss-inspired global Red Cross network while visiting Europe following
the Civil War. Returning home, she campaigned for an American Red Cross
and for ratification of the Geneva Convention protecting the
war-injured, which the United States ratified in 1882.

Barton led the Red Cross for 23 years, during which time we conducted our
first domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts, aided the United
States military during the Spanish-American War, and campaigned
successfully for the inclusion of peacetime relief work as part of the
global Red Cross network–the so-called “American Amendment” that
initially met with some resistance in Europe.

The Red Cross received our first congressional charter in 1900 and a second
in 1905, the year after Barton resigned from the organization. The most
recent version of the charter, which was adopted in May 2007, restates
the traditional purposes of the organization which include giving relief
to and serving as a medium of communication between members of the
American armed forces and their families and providing national and
international disaster relief and mitigation.

Prior to the First World War, the Red Cross introduced its first aid, water
safety, and public health nursing programs. With the outbreak of war,
the organization experienced phenomenal growth. The number of local
chapters jumped from 107 in 1914 to 3,864 in 1918 and membership grew
from 17,000 to over 20 million adult and 11 million Junior Red Cross
members. The public contributed $400 million in funds and material to
support Red Cross programs, including those for American and Allied
forces and civilian refugees. The Red Cross staffed hospitals and
ambulance companies and recruited 20,000 registered nurses to serve the
military. Additional Red Cross nurses came forward to combat the
worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918.

After the war, the Red Cross focused on service to veterans and enhanced our programs in safety training, accident prevention, home care for the
sick, and nutrition education. We also provided relief for victims of
such major disasters as the Mississippi River floods in 1927 and severe
drought and the Depression during the 1930s.

The Second World War called upon the Red Cross to provide extensive
services once again to the U.S. military, Allies, and civilian war
victims. We enrolled more than 104,000 nurses for military service,
prepared 27 million packages for American and Allied prisoners of war,
and shipped over 300,000 tons of supplies overseas. At the military’s
request, the Red Cross also initiated a national blood program that
collected 13.3 million pints of blood for use by the armed forces.

After World War II, the Red Cross introduced the first nationwide civilian
blood program that now supplies more than 40 percent of the blood and
blood products in this country. During the 1990s, we engineered a
massive modernization of our blood services operations to improve the
safety of our blood products. We continued to provide services to
members of the armed forces and their families, including during the
Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf wars. The Red Cross also expanded our services
into such fields as civil defense, CPR/AED training, HIV/AIDS
education, and the provision of emotional care and support in the wake
of disasters. Since 2006, the Red Cross and FEMA have worked together
helping government agencies and community organizations plan, coordinate
and provide feeding, sheltering and family reunification services for
people affected by disasters.

Today, the supporters, volunteers and employees of the American Red Cross provide compassionate care in five critical areas:People affected by disasters in AmericaSupport for members of the military and their familiesBlood collection, processing and distributionHealth and safety education and trainingInternational relief and development