'We must serve the entire community'

Diversity Progress Report by Alvin A. Reid, as published in the St. Louis American .

Quick, how many fires will there be in the St. Louis area this week that leave families in need of assistance?

Did you think to yourself, "5 to 10"?

You're way off. Try 21. That's an average of three a day.

As CEO of the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter, it is Joseph White's job to know such facts.

"Most people don't know that disaster response includes our need to support those who have been in fires," he said.

"We have responded to 1,150 single-family house fires this year, with 60 percent of those being in North St. Louis or North St. Louis County."

Most St. Louisans think of the Red Cross when there has been some type of widespread disaster, including the summer and winter power outages that left hundreds of thousands at the mercy, respectively, of a heat wave and cold snap.

The Red Cross established shelters throughout the region, including in the Wohl Community Center on North Kingshighway and at a North County site.

But the local Red Cross impacts St. Louisans in many ways. And its need for support must come from all sectors of the community, "so we must serve the entire community," White said.

Voluntary Change:

White saw that it was time to increase the level of diversity within the Red Cross volunteer base during the organization's response in St. Louis following the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"It became apparent after Katrina that the vast majority of our volunteers are white," White said.

"We have a diverse board of directors and (office) employees, but not volunteers. We were missing an element of St. Louis from the people side."

White and the board started an aggressive outreach program for the organization to increase minority participation within its 1,575-member volunteer base.

"It's not a flash in the pan. It's a board-approved methodology," he said.

"We were missing the faith-based, African-American community. We were missing many possible caregivers and volunteers."

For help, he asked Yvonne Berry, a 27-year Red Cross executive, to focus on the outreach program.

She took the challenge on with glee and has helped bring hundreds of black volunteers and many organizations into service with the local Red Cross.

"We have talked to every black organization we could, talked to the leaders, met with anyone we can," Berry said.

"We have been aggressive about it."

The Red Cross had a pair of booths at the Missouri Black Expo in August - one with information on HIV/AIDS and, for the first time, a booth with information on its programs and volunteer opportunities.

Among the African-American organizations that Berry and White have engaged are the St. Louis Clergy Coalition, Mound City Bar Association, Mound City Medical Forum and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.

"This is what we call our 'seeding phase,'" Berry said.

"We are introducing the community to our services and our opportunities. We've had excellent response."

That response also included the Metro East community.

The Rev. Obie Rush, the Rev. David Crockett, the Rev. Robert C. Jones and their respective congregations at Greater New Hope, St. Paul and St. John Missionary Baptist churches have "stepped up," according to Berry. This included braving a 104-degree temperature to hand out supplies at an East St. Louis site the day after the powerful July storms.

"There is something calming about having a preacher there," Berry said.

Berry said black volunteers "have come out in droves" to help at shelters and for other volunteer opportunities.

The Red Cross team from the Creve Coeur headquarters and the Red Cross Blood Services office on Lindell work together on the annual Charles Drew Blood Campaign.

"This focuses on the recruitment and increase of blood donations from the African-American community," Berry said.

This is vital in having blood units available for children with sickle cell disease.

"The different organizations all have something that they feel comfortable with," Berry said. "They say, 'This is what we want to embrace.'"

A Worldwide Embrace:

Few know that the Red Cross is not a government agency. It must rely on the donations of individuals and organizations for survival.

White said the Red Cross faced the need for $400,000 to serve single-family fires, $675,000 in aid after the summer storm and $80,000 following the ice storm.

Following Katrina, the St. Louis Red Cross served 2,400 displaced families - more than 6,000 people - and dispatched more than $1.7 million for aid.

"Within an hour, some families had pre-loaded debit cards of $1,600," White said.

The national Red Cross supports a chapter for any services more than $10,000, but the local then raises money to pay part of that amount back.

"We rely on the generosity of Americans," White said.

Hundreds of thousands of Africans are also served by this generosity.

The Red Cross administers an International Measles Initiative that has a goal of eradicating measles in Africa.

The disease, which is now uncommon in America, remains rampant in Africa and claims up to 400,000 people a year.

"But that is down from 1 million people a year. We have a long way to go, though," White said.

"A child can be inoculated for 87 cents, and raising money for the initiative is a huge piece of our international service."

Red Cross international service also includes it being the major provider of Geneva Convention information and humanitarian aid to displaced families.

"We track people separated by acts of war and major disasters," White said.

The Red Cross also has an Armed Forces Emergency Service, which it offers at no cost to service men and women.

"We work with men and women when they are deployed. We get information home to loved ones and get information to them from home," White said.

"The Red Cross also provides immediate financial assistance for bills and utilities to families of deployed soldiers until checks begin coming from the government. It's not a loan, it's a gift."

Black Support:

While the outreach effort is attracting many African-American volunteers, the Red Cross has continued to have strong support from black board members, politicians and community leaders.

Among them are U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, his chief of staff Darryl Piggee and many other black elected officials at the local and state level.

Black volunteers are also not new to the organization, even though White saw the need for more.

For example, Renee Washington has been volunteering with the St. Louis Area Chapter since 2004, and she has been deployed on five national assignments.

Her most recent deployment came in the hours following Hurricane Katrina. Renee was sent to Miami, where she met one-on-one with hurricane victims, listened to each person's needs and then provided funds for food, shelter and clothing.

"I was a small part of a larger movement that helped those in need mentally, physically and economically. It was a very fulfilling experience for me," she says.

Rasheda Hodges of Kirkwood is another Red Cross volunteer, serving with its HIV/AIDS program.

A health care provider herself, Hodges says the knowledge she helps dispense "can put our community on a path towards a healthier lifestyle."

African Americans giving their time by serving as board members include St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George; Reginald Dickson, principal of Buford, Dickson, Harper & Sparrow; and Michael Wilson, an active member of Red Cross YouthCorps for a number of years who has served as a member of the American Red Cross National Youth Council. Also, Alonzo Byrd from Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company will be joining the Board in July.

Dickson helped found the Drew Blood Campaign, which has helped increase blood donations by African-Americans "tenfold since this program began," he said.

The late Gloria White was also a Red Cross board member and served as its chair for several years.

Roy E. Gillespie of Teamsters Local 600 and the Human Rights Commission "has Red Cross blood in his veins," according to Joseph White.

The men met in Baton Rouge following Katrina, while both were there on different missions.

"I told him I wanted to get him engaged with the Red Cross and within weeks, there he was, coming in to be a volunteer," White said.

He said for the six days following the summer storm, Gillespie "was the face of the Red Cross."