by Karsten Doan, volunteer contributor, American Red Cross North Texas Region

As we close out 2019 and roll into a new decade, we would like to recognize all of our generous donors who helped make the American Red Cross mission possible last year.

Donations to the American Red Cross help provide comfort, care and hope to people affected by disasters. This year thousands of families have been affected by wildfires, floods, tornadoes, home fires and more. More than 2,000 dedicated North Texas Red Cross volunteers contributed more than 130,000 hours to help those in need.

Nationally, when large scale disasters displaced families across the U.S., nearly 9,000 Red Cross workers came together to:

• Serve over 1.1 million meals and snacks

• Make over 92,000 contacts in order to support health

• Distribute more than 354,000 relief items

• Provide more than 79,000 overnight shelter stays

The American Red Cross was also able to provide financial assistance to nearly 376,000 people who were in need of basic necessities like food and water.

Thanks to the dedication of our volunteers and generosity of our donors in 2019, the Red Cross was also able to:

• Collect more than 4.6 million blood donations with more than 2.6 million volunteer donors to help all those patients in need.

• Train more than 4.8 million people in emergency care and safety such as first aid and water safety as well as other skills that are necessary to save lives.

• Provide nearly 471,000 services to military members and veterans as well as their families through networks such as the Hero Care Network.

In addition, the American Red Cross helped provide assistance outside of the U.S where we helped 230 million people through American Red Cross disease prevention activities and disaster services.

Every day, thanks to our generous supporters like those listed below, the American Red Cross stands ready to provide humanitarian assistance whenere and wherever it is needed most. For more information visit www.redcross.org.

$1,000,000+

$500,000+

$250,000+

$100,000+

$50,000+

$25,000+

$10,000+