March is Red Cross Month
March is Red Cross Month: Join Us
Our local Red Cross Month PSA... Join us in serving our community! Join the Red Cross!
Proclamation from the White House
"For over a century, the American Red Cross has harnessed the generosity of the American people, mobilizing us to offer assistance in the wake of disaster. Whether aiding towns fighting rising floodwaters or nations struggling with starvation and disease, the American Red Cross and its international partners have served during crises across the United States and around the world. During American Red Cross Month, we celebrate our Nation's humanitarian spirit, and we recommit to providing relief and hope in times of crisis."
Click here to see the proclamation from President Barack Obama.
About American Red Cross Month
Since 1943, the presidents of the United States have annually declared March as American Red Cross Month. In recent years, central Illinois municipal governments have followed this happy tradition.
Please take this opportunity to learn a little Red Cross history.
A call amid the Great War
For the first quarter century of our existence, the Red Cross held no regular fund-raising drives. When Clara Barton created the organization in 1881, it was largely dependent on the spontaneous support of people who learned of catastrophic events -- and the Red Cross response to them -- mainly through newspapers and word of mouth.
This changed in 1917 when the U.S. entered World War I. President Woodrow Wilson ordered the American Red Cross to raise funds to support its aid to the military as mandated by the Red Cross Congressional charter.
In response, the Red Cross held its first national War Fund drive in June 1917 and set a goal of $100 million -- an astoundingly large sum at the time. Within a few days more than $115 million was raised. In December of that year, the Red Cross held its first Christmas Roll Call, asking people to give at least $1 to join the organization's membership.
After the war, the Red Cross decided to make the Roll Call an annual membership and fund-raising drive. It also conducted special appeals in response to major disasters, such as the Dust Bowl drought of the early 1930s and periodic flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
FDR sets ambitious goal
In November 1941, with war in Europe, the Red Cross held a highly successful 25th Annual Roll Call. Days later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the U.S. into World War II. As it had done in the previous world war, the Red Cross responded immediately by declaring a War Fund campaign. By June 1942, it had raised more than $66 million.
Rather than go back to the public with a third appeal in one year, the Red Cross decided to cancel its 1942 Roll Call. Instead, after discussions with President Franklin Roosevelt, the honorary chairman of the Red Cross, the whole month of March 1943 was declared "Red Cross Month" and a goal of $125 million was set -- the biggest amount ever asked for in one campaign by any American organization. Again, the response was overwhelming. It took less than six weeks to reach the target. Roosevelt called it the "greatest single crusade of mercy in all of history."
This success caused the Red Cross to repeat the March drive during the remaining years of the war and then to make it the occasion of its annual membership and fund-raising efforts ever since.