CALIFORNIA – The American Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help reunite families. Think “private eye meets helper of humankind.” Here is your opportunity to make a difference.
The chaos and confusion that accompanies war and disaster can separate families when they need each other most. When this happens, the Red Cross joins the search across international borders, offering a unique service that allows families to reconnect.The American Red Cross Central Valley Region provides services in disaster relief, emergency preparedness, health and safety and service to the armed forces to the seven counties of the San Joaquin Valley including Mariposa, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern.
They are now bringing in one more service from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called Restoring Family Links.
Restoring Family Links is a free service that reunites family members separated internationally due to armed conflict, migration or disaster. The ICRC and the American Red Cross work together to locate people and put them back into contact with their relatives.
On Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., there will be a caseworker training at the Red Cross office in Fresno at 1300 W. Shaw Ave. The Red Cross would be happy to have any interested volunteers RSVP for this free training. Food and refreshments will be provided.
Here is what the Red Cross has to say about this program:
What We Do
American Red Cross caseworkers at local chapters around the U.S. help families locate missing relatives by working with our partners— the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations in nearly every country around the world.
Once a family member is found, the Red Cross helps them reconnect. Messages can be very brief, but the three short words “I am alive” may be all that is needed to ease the minds of distraught relatives half a world away.
Red Cross messages can also be exchanged between families and their loved ones in refugee camps and detention centers to allow them to keep in contact and share family news.
This past year, the American Red Cross helped reconnect thousands of families—bridging years of separation to renew critical links between new communities in the U.S. and their families around the world.
Where We Work
The Restoring Family Links program is truly global in scope. The American Red Cross provides services following natural disasters, as well as in conflict-affected countries that include:
Afghanistan
Bosnia
Burundi
Cambodia
Democratic Republic of
Congo
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Hungary
Iran
Iraq
Liberia
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Vietnam
Former Yugoslavia
Former USSR/Eastern Bloc
We also continue to provide services that reconnect Holocaust Survivors and their families, which includes activities in many countries affected by World War II.
How You Can Help
You can help people affected by disasters like floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift allows the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters.
Visit Redcross.org or call 1-800-REDCROSS. Contributions may also be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC, 20013.
For more information, please visit www.redcross.org/familylinks and to RSVP please contact Cayce Baierski at 559-455-1000 or Cayce.Baierski@Redcross.org
