Cumberland County proclaims March 2025 as American Red Cross Month; chapter outlines recent fire responses and volunteer needs

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners declared March 2025 as American Red Cross Month and received a presentation from leaders of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross about recent disaster responses and local volunteer needs.

The proclamation, read aloud during the commissioners' meeting, notes that the American Red Cross supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood and provides shelter, nourishment, health services and other support to disaster victims and military families. The proclamation also summarized the chapter’s 2024 activity and local assistance since July 1, 2024.

Laura Berg, Executive Director of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross, told commissioners the chapter has seen an uptick in multifamily fires in the county and region. “We have responded to the multifamily apartment fire, displacing 31 units worth of individuals,” Berg said, describing the chapter’s immediate relief work. She said the chapter opened an emergency shelter, provided three meals a day and snacks to residents who used the shelter, and supplied health and mental-health services and replacement medical equipment where needed. Berg said the shelter closed at 5 p.m. the following Monday and that the chapter planned recovery meetings with displaced households to start individualized recovery casework.

Erin Sunday, a volunteer and local Red Cross partner, described community partnership opportunities, including free smoke alarm installation programs. “The one thing that we partner on many times is our free smoke alarm installation,” Sunday said, explaining that the chapter canvasses neighborhoods with local organizations and volunteers to install alarms at no charge.

Berg also emphasized the chapter’s volunteer reliance. “Over 90% of our workforce in Central Pennsylvania is volunteer,” she said, and urged local residents and organizations to consider a range of volunteer roles from deployment to committee work. She noted recent national deployments by Central Pennsylvania volunteers to disasters in Tennessee, North Carolina and California and said volunteer recruitment remains a continuous need.

Commissioners and Red Cross representatives discussed blood drives as another ongoing need. Berg explained that a standard unit of blood can be donated every 56 days and that donations cannot be manufactured or stockpiled, creating a continual demand for volunteer donors. The meeting included encouragement from commissioners to help spread the word about local blood drives and Red Cross training programs, such as lifeguard and babysitting courses.

The proclamation also cited the chapter’s 2024 statistics included in the resolution text: supporting more than 190 individuals affected by disasters, educating more than 350 students on emergency preparedness, hosting more than 140 blood drives that collected over 4,200 units of blood, and delivering more than 220 services to veterans and military families. Since July 1, 2024, the proclamation said the Central Pennsylvania chapter supported over 100 Cumberland County residents through about 30 events, provided more than $25,000 in financial assistance and responded to 39 disaster health service cases.

The meeting closed with photos and a brief opportunity for commissioners to thank chapter staff and volunteers. No formal vote count on the proclamation was recorded in the transcript excerpt; the meeting record shows the proclamation was presented and the board proceeded with the agenda.