Corporations and organizations help keep the American Red Cross disaster-ready

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Sep 21, 2023, 08:22 ET

Disaster giving program members support Red Cross response to nearly twice as many large disasters as a decade ago

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Families across the country are feeling the effects of extreme weather as storms, floods, wildfires and excessive heat become more common. During National Preparedness Month in September, the American Red Cross and our donors promote disaster readiness to ensure family and community resiliency in times of crisis. Now more than ever, the Red Cross is relying on more than 130 corporate and organizational members of the Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder Program to grow its capacity to respond in the face of more frequent and intense disasters.

ADGP and Disaster Responder Program members — along with their employees and customers — pledge financial and in-kind donations year-round in advance of disasters to ensure the Red Cross is ready to help those in need and can prepare people and communities for unexpected crises. The organization depends on these annual donations from generous supporters to prepare and respond to disasters big and small.

Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of ADGP and Disaster Responder Program members, Red Cross workers stand ready to meet urgent needs in every community across the country — responding to an average of more than 60,000 disasters in the U.S. each year. Powered by members' essential pre-investment, the Red Cross is prepared to act before these devastating events occur. Steadfast support from members helps equip volunteers and employees with the training, technology and resources to deliver immediate relief, allowing the Red Cross to provide care and comfort in the challenging days and weeks following a disaster while remaining beside survivors, helping them begin to recover.

"Sadly, another year of relentless disasters has taken a devastating toll on families — especially those in hard-hit communities who face recurring extreme weather events," said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross. "Thankfully, our forward-thinking ADGP and Disaster Responder members provide generous support, allowing us to respond to emergencies at a moment's notice. We are deeply grateful for our partners and their enduring commitment, which helps us provide comfort and hope to people in dire need."

Today, the evolving impacts of extreme weather on those the Red Cross serves — more intense storms, heavier rainfalls, higher temperatures, stronger hurricanes and historic wildfires — have also led to growing needs, particularly for frontline communities also challenged with chronic social issues.

As of mid-September, the nation has already experienced a record 23 billion-dollar disasters this year, including catastrophic atmospheric rivers in California and deadly tornadoes in the South and Midwest. What's more, the Red Cross has also responded to Hurricane Idalia in the Southeast, the deadliest wildfires of the last century in Hawaii, a powerful typhoon in the U.S. territory of Guam, and 1-in-100-year flooding in the Northeast. All of these events are on top of extreme heat, which made July the country's hottest single month on record.

Even with increasing climate-driven disasters, the majority of Red Cross relief efforts are still in response to home fires. To ensure people and communities are ready for disasters both big and small, the organization supports vital preparedness work as well. With the help of ADGP and Disaster Responder partners, the Red Cross is able to help families get ready for disasters while supporting programs to help prevent everyday emergencies like home fires. The Home Fire Campaign is one such preparedness initiative, which has saved 1,928 lives across the country since launching in October 2014.

As the end of National Preparedness Month approaches, now is the perfect time to prepare by taking three simple steps: 1) Get a kit. 2) Make a plan. 3) Be informed. To learn more, visit redcross.org/prepare or download the free Red Cross Emergency app.

The American Red Cross thanks these program members for their generous contributions.

The current members of the Red Cross $1M Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) are: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald's Corporation; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; PayPal; PetSmart Charities; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and Wells Fargo.

The current members of the Red Cross $500,000 Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) are:
Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; CarMax; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; Dollar General; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; International Paper; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc.; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.

The current members of the Red Cross $250,000 Disaster Responder Program are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; DHL Supply Chain; The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; LKQ; Macy's, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc.; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; The Middleby Corporation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual; Old Dominion Freight Line; Organon; Pacific Life Foundation; Prudential; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Project, a project of New Venture Fund; Ross Stores Foundation; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance's Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; and Zurich.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

SOURCE American Red Cross