Topeka KS, April 25, 2017 — National Volunteer Week is April 23-29 and the American Red Cross, Kansas Capital Area Chapter is honoring its volunteers who give their time to help people in need.

Nearly 314,000 volunteers serve the organization, helping staff blood drives, volunteering at veterans hospitals, teaching people lifesaving skills such as First Aid and CPR, responding to home fires in the middle of the night and so much more. Here in the Kansas Capital Area Chapter which serves 19 counties, 364 volunteers help the communities served.

“We want to take this time during Volunteer Week to thank our volunteers for their service,” said Jane Blocher, Executive Director. “They help us fulfill our lifesaving mission every day, and we are overwhelmed with gratitude for their service.”

Last year, the Kansas Capital Area Chapter, Red Cross volunteers provided food, shelter, comfort and hope to 313 local families who faced emergency situations. They trained 11,350 people in lifesaving skills and provided 13,824 services to military members, veterans and their families.

The Red Cross invites the public to be a part of the lifesaving work it does and to sign up to volunteer and donate blood. People can go to redcross.org to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application. To schedule an appointment to donate blood, people should visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS. People can also download the Red Cross Blood Donor App to schedule and manage their donation appointments. To download the app, text “BLOODAPP” to 90999 or search “American Red Cross.”

The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign offers volunteers the opportunity to help us reduce the number of home fire injuries and deaths by 25 percent over the next several years. In communities across the country, volunteers are going door-to-door with local partners to install smoke alarms and teach people about home fire safety. Since the Home Fire Campaign started, it has been credited with saving at least 215 lives. Volunteers have already installed more than 702,000 smoke alarms in more than 9,100 cities and towns across the United States.