Red Cross Giving Day Hopes To Raise Money, Awareness

DENVER (CBS4)- The American Red Cross hosted its first Giving Day on Tuesday to raise money for disasters relief and also give people an idea of what happens in the day in the life of the local Red Cross.

Patricia Billinger with the American Red Cross for the Colorado-Wyoming Region appeared on CBS4 News at Noon on Tuesday to describe a typical day for the Red Cross in Colorado.

"In Fort Collins, 24 units were evacuated because of an apartment fire, so that was at 6 a.m. and our volunteer got the call and by nine that morning we were teaching CPR to people in a care facility so if one of the residents chokes we can help save that person's life, by noon we were offering training about international conflict resolution, same time that day we were meeting with the Civil Air Patrol and other community partners to work on our logistics that we can quickly move mass amounts of cots, blankets and other supplies, and that evening we were once again teaching CPR to everyday people so that if someone you love or someone you know might have their life saved by someone who has been trained by the Red Cross in CPR," said Billinger.

Billinger said the Red Cross isn't just helping those in the aftermath of a disaster, but also preparing for future disasters, something the theme of this year's giving day, All In, eludes to.

"We want to be 'All In 1 Day' your life can change, people's lives change horribly just in one day as we've seen in Texas, here in Colorado as well. And also with just home fires. But there's also a double meaning which is that our volunteers and workers are all in every day helping get those people back on their feet," said Billinger. "We're asking the public to donate today, any amount helps and helps us continue to help people get back on their feet."

Billinger also said the Red Cross is on duty every day, responding to disasters regardless of how difficult the task may be, helping those in need.

"We are working year-round to get ready for these disasters. When the 2013 floods happened, we were able to open shelters across the state within an hour, sometimes two hours, because we're working year-round to get those shelters set up, to have our supplies ready, to have our volunteers trained, and so that's part of what your support helps as well as your donation helps us help those who are in need right now, especially those folks in Texas and Oklahoma with about 8,000 households affected just in Texas," said Billinger.