Fayette Red Cross collecting items for troops
Although some American Red Cross chapters across the state have suspended the collection of items for military soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf, the Fayette County Chapter has not. The Quality of Life Program, sponsored by the Red Cross is still under way in Fayette County. Kristina Dulashaw, local Red Cross director of special events, said a collection event has been scheduled for Saturday, April 12, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the former Fayette Bank Building located at the intersection of Main and Morgantown streets.
She noted that the event is a cooperative effort between the Red Cross and the Fayette Chamber of Commerce.
“In addition to the regular items we will also be taking monetary donations in order to pay for the postage to send the boxes to our troops,’ said Dulashaw.
Local officials said they were aware of a moratorium the Red Cross was putting on collections because of problems involved in getting the supplies to the troops. The Westmoreland County chapter of the Red Cross announced Tuesday it was halting its collections.
However, Fayette Chamber member Christopher Kennedy, who organized the drive with Muriel J. Nuttall, executive director of the Fayette Chamber, said the moratorium only applied to new drives. Since this drive was already started, he said it wouldn’t be affected by the moratorium.
Dulashaw added that Red Cross chapters are independent of each other and make their own decisions.
“I just thought that it might be a nice idea for everyone to get involved,” Kennedy said. “We realize that the Red Cross has put a moratorium on collecting these items because they have enough items for the next three to four months, but we already had this drive in the works so we agreed to go ahead with it.”
Kennedy said even though there is a moratorium the Red Cross is still going to need the items in the future because no one knows how long the war in Iraq will last.
Peggy Redmond, Red Cross acting unit director, said Tuesday that since the start of the war, the Red Cross has received numerous calls from residents who wanted to donate items to the program but want the packages to go to local military soldiers.
Redmond said obviously the Red Cross couldn’t specifically send packages to local service men and women because they are operating under the conditions of war, but she promised that the items would go to the troops to be used by whoever receives them.
The list of items the two groups will be collecting include individually wrapped pieces of hard candy, microwave popcorn, peanuts, pretzels and other snack foods, sweetened Kool-Aid, Gatorade and other sweetened drink mixes, coffee, sugar, creamer, tea bags, hot chocolate and hot cider.
In addition Dulashaw said the troops need toiletry items such as shaving cream, disposable razors, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower soap and gel, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, wet wipes, sunscreen, wrap-around sun glasses, batteries and blank greeting cards for all occasions.
“With holidays such as Mothers Day and Fathers Day I’m sure the troops would like to send a greeting to their family members,” said Dulashaw. “Also any other greeting card such as for birthdays, anniversaries or patriotic holidays would be nice for the soldiers to have.”
Other items needed are videos, DVDs, CDs and cassette tapes and small board games. Dulashaw said recent mysteries, action, drama and science fiction paperback books are a good item because they are highly read by everyone.
Redmond and Dulashaw said the Red Cross is also supporting troops with the AFES (Armed Forces Emergency Service) that provides emergency information to family members both here and overseas.
Dulashaw said now more than ever these messages provide a vital link to families separated by oceans of uncertainty in a time of war.
Dulashaw said the Red Cross also desperately needs financial contributions to help them keep families connected.
“With nearly 300,000 forces in the region and climbing, the volume of Red Cross emergency communications has jumped 20 percent, greatly adding to our costs,” said Dulashaw. “The American Red Cross estimates an additional $8 to $10 million in donations will be needed to help us meet the demand.”
Checks to aid the programs and services of the Fayette County Chapter should be made out to the American Red Cross, Fayette County Unit, and sent to 108 Morgantown St., Uniontown, Pa., 15401.
Dulashaw said anyone who wants to volunteer with the many services, which are provided daily can call the local Red Cross office at 724-438-2567. She said that the Red Cross also encourages healthy individuals to donate blood during the weeks ahead.
“The Armed Services Blood Program Office has asked that we provide limited shipments of blood and blood products to them for a limited period of time,” said Dulashaw. “Our ability to help is based upon the blood being available at the time of the request.”