Red Cross urges Greater Lowell volunteer push, committee asks city manager to explore resilience coalition

Kyle McGuire Lopez, executive director of the Northeastern chapter of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts, told the Lowell City Council nonprofit subcommittee that the chapter is expanding volunteer outreach and preparedness work in Lowell and invited residents to a volunteer event at UMass Lowell on Tuesday, May 20 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Lopez said the American Red Cross’s “mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies,” and stressed that volunteers are central to that work. “Ninety percent of our workforce is made up of volunteers,” he said, and described programs that range from disaster response and sheltering to school-based preparedness and hands-only CPR instruction.

The presentation outlined how the chapter responds to large disasters and to more frequent local incidents: Lopez said the Red Cross…