Press release from the American Red Cross:
American Red Cross Celebrates Grand Re-opening of Newly Renovated, Expanded Facilities
Invites Community to Attend Tour, Open House
In July, 2009 the American Red Cross of Northeast Indiana occupied its newly renovated and expanded facilities on East California Road. Having settled, the Red Cross now invites the community to attend an open house of the facility on December 8, 2009 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne. Tours and refreshments will be provided and a special appearance will be made by the local Red Cross’ new mascot.
The 11,000 square foot facility offers a host of additions that will allow the local Red Cross to fulfill its mission of helping all people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies more effectively. The new facility features an emergency operations center designed to be a critical base of operations during medium- to large-scale disasters, allowing for enhanced communication among first responders, various agencies, and other area Red Cross chapters. In addition, two new conference rooms may double as one to train as many as fifty participants in lifesaving, disaster preparedness or other skills. A kitchen designed specifically for disaster response now features a stove, three ovens, industrial-sized sinks, refrigerator, freezer, and ice maker, as well as instant hot water access for responding to immediate food and water needs of all disaster types, enhancing response time. Among other exciting additions, the California Road location now houses the Multicultural Information Exchange (MIX) program of the local Red Cross (formerly based on Broadway in Fort Wayne). The MIX program offers translations, interpretations, and international tracing for clients in over 45 languages. Multi-lingual staff can now serve walk-in clients immediately in at least seven languages.
The Humanitarian Services division of the local Red Cross is proud to share its newly renovated and expanded facilities with the northeast Indiana community. In 2008 alone, it served more than 45,000 clients through its services, meaning that 1 in 14 people in northeast Indiana are impacted by local Red Cross services each year. For more information on the open house or to find out how you can help the Red Cross more, please contact Jeri Rusk at (260) 484.9336 ext. 230 or ruskj@usa.redcross.org or visit www.redcrossofnei.org.
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