Red Cross operations changing

Published 12:29 pm Friday, July 2, 2010

The American Red Cross is consolidating operations in Mississippi, meaning the Vicksburg Area Chapter will become part of a newly created chapter headquartered in Jackson if it is kept open.

Beverly Connelly, local executive director, said the new structure — reducing the number of chapters from 13 to five — has the current staff waiting on word about possible job title changes if the Vicksburg Area Chapter is absorbed into the Mississippi Capital River Chapter.

Other regional chapters will be headquartered in Oxford, Tupelo, Meridian and Hattiesburg.

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Cost-effectiveness is the stated goal of the makeover, as well as trimming a $500,000 budget deficit in the state, according to white papers issued in June to executive directors by national chapter officials of the international organization. A Red Cross CEO will be hired to oversee the five regional chapters and be based in Jackson.

Locally, the chapter has had primary response in Warren and neighboring counties. In addition to disaster services during and after fires, flooding and tornadoes, the chapter offers safety education programs — including extensive swimmer education classes.

Connelly said in the event of emergencies, the Red Cross will still offer housing locally. “We will still have the same shelters,” she said.

While it responds to incidents such as single-family fires, the chapter here becomes more prominent during backwater flooding and when coordinating shelter operations during flooding and storms, such as Hurricane Katrina, which saw hundreds of people housed for many weeks.

Red Cross financial assistance is not being eliminated, though Red Cross caseworkers will spend more time in storm shelters to match evacuees with such community resources as employment and mental health assistance, officials said during a hurricane preparedness meeting June 10.

Since 2004, local Red Cross staff and other volunteers also have organized annual blanket drives for the elderly and fire victims, for whom the chapter provides temporary housing.

Founded in 1881, the organization’s network consists of more than 700 chapters.