Dwindling budget
This winter’s cold weather, coupled with a rash of fires throughout the county, has officials with the local office of the American Red Cross scrambling to meet the community’s needs on a dwindling budget.
This winter’s cold weather, coupled with a rash of fires throughout the county, has officials with the local office of the American Red Cross scrambling to meet the community’s needs on a dwindling budget. Tara Karwatsky, unit manager/health and safety director for the American Red Cross of Fayette County, said that since October, the local unit has assisted 85 fire victims with housing and clothing, including the victims of the Heritage Apartments fire in Uniontown last week.
She said the organization provides up to three nights of housing at local hotels, clothing vouchers and agency referrals to fire victims and responds to any kind of disaster in which people are displaced from their home.
This year, the disaster fund is nearly depleted, and donations to replenish the fund have been slow in coming.
“At this point, if we have a large-scale disaster, we won’t be able to cover it,” said Tony Alviar, vice chairman of the American Red Cross of Fayette County. “It’s getting to the point where we may have to close our doors.”
Alviar said many of the fires to which he has responded this season have been related to space heaters, used to heat pipes that freeze. He said several fires have involved more than one family, including the Heritage fire that affected 34 residents.
For the last fiscal year, the local operation spent $26,000 in disaster services and helped about 300 people. This year, the agency has spent $17,000 on disaster services, with another four months left in the fiscal year, Karwatsky said.
She said the organization is looking to raise $45,000 before the end of March for the disaster fund, which is part of their $110,000 annual operating budget.
“With all these fires lately, we’ve had a lot of money going out, but there is nothing coming back in to replenish our funds,” she said.
While the disaster fund is running low because of the number of fires, blood supplies also are reaching a critical level. Karwatsky said blood supplies throughout the Greater Alleghenies Region are very low, and a number of blood drives have been scheduled for the rest of February and all of March to increase the amount of blood that hospitals will have available.
Alviar said many people are under the misconception that the blood they donated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is still being stored somewhere, when the reality is that blood was used or disposed of within 45 days of donation and people can donate blood every 56 days.
“We need to keep donations up to keep the supply up, because hospitals need the blood to handle accident victims, surgeries and even patients who require transfusions every other day,” he said.
Karwatsky said an adequate blood supply is having a five-day stock of every blood type, and right now the Red Cross has a two- or three-day supply of every blood type on hand.
Blood drives are scheduled for Monday at PennDOT from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; at Fayette County Head Start on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and at Penn State Fayette Campus on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Other drives in February will be held at the Uniontown Mall on Feb. 17 from noon to 6 p.m.; at the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department on Feb. 24 from noon to 6 p.m.; at the First Christian Church in Brownsville on Feb. 25 from 1 to 7 p.m.; at the Third Presbyterian Church in Uniontown on Feb. 26 from noon to 6 p.m.; and on Feb. 28 from noon to 6 p.m. at the St. John the Evangelist R.C. Church in Uniontown.
While blood donated at one of the drives goes to the regional blood network, Karwatsky said monetary donations and giving of time as a volunteer stays in the county. Monetary contributions are down, she said, most likely the result of the weakened economy.
“People are not able to provide money or their time to help us keep going because they are working hard to keep themselves solvent,” Karwatsky said.
For more information, call the American Red Cross of Fayette County at 724-438-2567 or send donations to 108 Morgantown St., Uniontown, 15401.