What if you could spend a few hours volunteering and know that you were actually helping to save lives? If you are looking to get involved with a worthy cause, the American Red Cross has an amazing volunteer initiative that is having a direct impact on the numbers of people who lose their lives in house fires. Read on for ways you can be a part of this great program!

Each year, the Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters, and most of these are house fires. Home fires cause billions of dollars in property damage each year, in addition to many preventable deaths. In the first two months of this year, the Red Cross has already responded to 12,500 house fires, and tragically, lives have been lost in some of these. Every day, seven people in this country die due to a home fire and another 36 are injured.

Because having working smoke alarms installed in a home cuts the number of deaths by an astonishing 50%, the Red Cross is calling for volunteers to install 100,000 free smoke alarms during its first annual “Sound the Alarm” campaign between April 28 and May 13, 2018. Sound the Alarm is part of an initiative begun by the Red Cross in 2014 called the Home Fire Campaign –already credited with saving almost 400 lives! Red Cross volunteers spread out across high-risk neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms and help families create escape plans. The program has installed more than 1.1 million smoke alarms since the beginning of the campaign, saving lives and property and educating whole communities about fire safety.

You can be a part of this impactful effort by volunteering to help install smoke alarms during the 16-day concentrated campaign from April 28 – May 13. Click here for more information: https://www.redcross.org/sound-the-alarm If you are unable to physically help install smoke alarms, other ways to support the effort include making a financial contribution (donations are tax deductible) or taking steps to protect your own family from home fires. Join the Red Cross today to Sound the Alarm about fire safety!

You’ve always known that the Red Cross would be on-hand in any catastrophic situation, providing whatever assistance was needed. For 130 years, the Red Cross has responded wherever there is need, leveraging donations of time, blood and money to as many disaster victims as possible. The American Red Cross has traditionally been the first to respond to those suffering -- sheltering, feeding and providing emotional support, in addition to supplying about 40% of the nation’s blood supply, teaching skills that save lives, providing international humanitarian aid, and supporting our nation’s military members and their families. The Red Cross depends on volunteer labor and donations; more than 90% of its workforce is comprised of volunteers.

Sign up to Sound the Alarm. Save a Life today!