About Us> Disaster Response

The Business Plan Focus from our National Headquarters, located in Washington D.C., has developed three mission critical functions. The three functions are:

• Readiness
• Response
• Relationships

Along with these functions, four goals have been identified to compliment the three functions. The four goals are:

• Service Quality & Lower Cost
• Strong Chapters
• Strong Partnerships
• Worker Satisfaction

Every Red Cross chapter works to coordinate and collaborate with disaster partners on a continuous basis. A process that helps to accomplish this is known as the readiness process. The readiness process consists of pre-disaster activities not limited to: plan writing, table-top exercises, functional exercises, and full-scale exercises.

When a disaster happens, dedicated volunteers and paid staff respond to the immediate needs of the disaster clients. They provide services to those affected to help them begin their road to recovery. While the Red Cross would like to restore every disaster client’s life back to pre-disaster conditions, this simply is not financially possible and truly not part of the Red Cross mission. The Red Cross will provide the immediate recovery needs such as: food, shelter, clothing, assistance with necessary prescription medication, and mental wellness. These services are provided only in part by generous donations made by citizens, businesses, and private foundations. In many parts of the country, the United Way is a big supporter and we appreciate this very much. Contribution and donation funding is necessary because the Red Cross does not receive funds from the government to provide this service.

Every disaster incident begins at the local level. Red Cross volunteers and paid staff trained in disaster response respond accordingly. If the incident is greater then what the local chapter response can muster, additional assistance (known as mutual aid) can be requested from neighboring Red Cross chapters and all the way up to the national network level.

Each state operates under a regional concept. In Wisconsin for example, there are five regions. Each region is comprised of one regional chapter and respective community chapters. Regardless of chapter designation, every chapter office and its affiliated volunteers and paid staff have but one fundamental mission, which is; readiness, response, and relationships.

For more information on how to become part of this service, please contact the North Central WI Chapter in Stevens Point at (715) 344-4052 or by email at disasterservices@charter.net

For information on how you can prepare for a disaster, please visit the Be Prepared section of our site.