The Heart of Tennessee Chapter of the American Red Cross held its official ribboncutting this week at its new home on Memorial Boulevard. (Photo by the Chamber of Commerce)
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The American Red Cross has been present in the community for more than a century, but its office could be difficult to find.
That all changed last month when the Heart of Tennessee Chapter moved into its new home at 501 Memorial Blvd., which formerly housed the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.
"Our goal with this new facility is to create the most prepared community in the state," board chairman Bill Shacklett told a crowd of more than 100 at the ribbon cutting event last week.
"But the Red Cross is not a building; it's people. It's me and you helping and serving each other in time of calamity."
The new location puts the Red Cross visibly in the heart of the community, explained spokeswoman Beth Ferguson.
"Easily accessible for donations, as well as training and emergency response, the new Heart of Tennessee Chapter of the American Red Cross will be better able to build awareness of its services and will stand as a true community center for aid, relief and education."
Last year the American Red Cross touched the lives of one in five Americans, often in the context of disaster or personal loss, according to a news release.
It has even responded to evacuees from Hurricane Gustav, the 2009 Good Friday Tornadoes and May 2010 flooding. The Heart of Tennessee Chapter serves all residents of Rutherford, Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Franklin, Moore and Wayne Counties.
"This puts a face to the organization in the community," Ferguson said.
Officials with the Red Cross set a goal on January 1 to raise $925,000. With the help of a large donation from Christy-Houston Foundation, the organization was able to move into its new building.
Middle Tennessee Medical Center gave $20,000 towards the training and preparedness room, while State Farm donated $25,000 towards the disaster operations center.
"We just felt that our missions aligned, especially with the Red Cross being here for emergent care and response," said Angie Boyd-Chambers, spokeswoman for MTMC. "It was a perfect fit. We liked being able to be the donor for that room where volunteers will train to help save lives."
While the former facility contained a training room, it was a big outdated, Ferguson explained.
"This is more state of the art," she said. "We're hoping more people can take training classes. It's is essential that people get training now because in the middle of a disaster, we are consumed with responding."
With the new state-of-the-art facility for our community, the Red Cross can collect the needed funds to help and to continue training in CPR, first aid and aquatics safety, and continue collecting life-saving blood for use in the local medical facilities and provide support and emergency communications for hundreds of local families who have loved ones serving in the Armed Forces throughout the world.
By the numbers
3 — number of potential lives saved by one blood donor
2 — every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood
99 — number of single home fires the Red Cross Heart of Tennessee Chapter responded to over the past year
284 — number of emergency communications provided to families of deployed soldiers over the past year
11,625 — number of people trained by the Red Cross Heart of Tennessee Chapter in CPR, first aid, AED, aquatics safety and babysitting
1,200 — number of square feet in the new training center
925,000 — thousands of dollars being raised in Building Awareness Capital Campaign |
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