Stephanie Fox of the American Red Cross explains the origins of "Giving Day," which offers donors the opportunity to donate to the organization that contributes to blood donations and storm relief.
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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.