March is American Red Cross Month

Lori Compton, executive director of the Bureau County Red Cross, works in her Princeton office Wednesday morning in preparation for the coming Red Cross blood drives. Bureau County has had a Red Cross chapter since 1917. The local chapter became a branch of the Quad Cities Red Cross office about two years ago. The change has helped streamline paperwork required by the National Red Cross, giving her more time to focus on local outreach and services, Compton said. (BCR photo/Donna Barker)

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PRINCETON — One hundred and twenty-nine years after its founding, the American Red Cross has developed into an international emergency response organization with 35,000 employees and more than 500,000 volunteers in the United States. Worldwide, the International Red Cross serves in 186 counties with millions of volunteers.

Bureau County has been home to a Red Cross outreach, based in Princeton, since 1917. Lori Compton serves as executive director of the local Red Cross chapter, which became a branch of the Quad Cities Red Cross Chapter about two years ago.

On Tuesday, Compton said the Red Cross has had a long and important history in Bureau County and beyond. The local office averages five to seven blood drives each month. Through the years, the local office has taken care of numerous families affected by house fires and has set up emergency shelters because of weather-related events.

Beyond the borders of Bureau County, the local chapter has provided trained volunteers in response to local disasters, such as the Utica tornado, as well as disasters that have happened in other states, Compton said.

In recognition of the outreach of the American Red Cross, President Barack Obama has proclaimed March as Red Cross Month. The annual recognition was first implemented in 1943 by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Having served on the local Red Cross Board since 1992 before becoming director about two years ago, Compton said the Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization which responds quickly to help people in crisis or disaster situations. Through its blood drives, the Red Cross provides a vital, life-saving service to people in need. The blood collected locally by the Red Cross is sent to the Peoria chapter for processing.

Theresa Kuhlmann, spokesperson for the Peoria Red Cross, said people can turn their compassion into action with their blood donations as well as monetary contributions.

“Patients in need of transfusions can’t rely on the luck of the Irish to replenish their blood supply,” Kuhlmann said. “Each day an average of 38,000 pints of blood are needed for patients in the United States, and that blood can only come from generous volunteer donors.”

In Bureau County, Red Cross blood drives are set for today, Thursday, from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Princeton; on March 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Spring Valley; on March 24, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Neponset Community Building; and on March 25, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the LaMoille High School.

Volunteers and donors are critical to the outreach of the Red Cross, Compton said.

Because the organization receives no state or federal funding, the Red Cross is supported 100 percent through donations, Compton said. The local office has planned a fundraiser for March 25 at Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers in Princeton Fifteen percent of the sales from 5 to 8 p.m. will go to the Red Cross.

In an outreach to recruit more volunteers, the local office has planned a volunteer orientation meeting for 6 p.m. March 10 at the Red Cross office, located in the Prouty Community Building on Princeton’s South Main Street.

“If it weren’t for the volunteers and the generous donations from the public, the Bureau County Red Cross Chapter could not exist,” Compton said. “There’s always a need out there, and it’s good to be part of helping to meet those needs.”

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