MANSFIELD — When the former Red Cross building at 39 N. Park Street went up for sale last year, Lara Kiefer knew she needed to find a new space.
“When we found out the service center was closing, I worked really hard to make sure we still had a presence in Richland County,” said Kiefer, executive director of the Red Cross Lake Erie/Heartland Chapter.
The Red Cross celebrated its move to 2 Smith Ave. on Monday with an open house/volunteer appreciation event and ribbon cutting. The building is owned by Catholic Charities, which also operates there.
“Catholic Charities has a disaster relief arm, so it kind of makes sense to extend that arm to the Red Cross to get them to come on board with us here,” said Rebecca Owens, regional director of Catholic Charities. “It’ll be a good fit and I think we can all help each other out.”
“I think it’s fantastic for Catholic Charities to open up their home for us,” added Kiefer. “We have very similar work as far as helping families post-disaster; they have a food bank in the lower level that our clients are going to have access to.”
The new space includes a conference room, meeting and training space, two offices and a large storage room filled with emergency supplies. The space is too small to host a blood drive onsite, so a blood drive station is being set up in front of Macy’s at the Richland Mall. All other activities will continue as usual.
“It’s a big change, but our mission remains the same,” said Kiefer. “Our services will not be impacted at all.”
According to Kiefer, the Red Cross has had an office in Mansfield for 102 years. Timothy O’Toole, regional disaster officer for the Red Cross’ Northeast Ohio Region, stated that Richland County is one of the busiest counties in the area for Red Cross volunteers.
After pulling up an annual report, O’Toole shared that in Richland County during fiscal year 2019, Red Cross volunteers:
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Responded to 42 fires
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Assisted 52 families with disaster relief
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Installed 281 smoke alarms in 134 homes
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Provided basic safety education to 547 children
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Collected 5,854 pints of blood
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Had 109 cases of assistance for armed forces families
Local volunteers also routinely lend a hand in surrounding counties like Ashland, Wayne and Homes. They’ve also gone out-of-state to help in the wake of the California wildfires and hurricanes in Myrtle Beach and parts of Florida.
“It’s a busy chapter. We keep very active,” said Sue J. Miller. She has been a Red Cross volunteer for five years, but became increasingly involved following her retirement in 2017.
She says giving families a bit of hope after disaster strikes is incredibly rewarding.
“There’s nothing better than when you leave a scene from a fire…and somebody comes up and gives you a hug and says, ‘Thanks, we had no idea what we were going to do,’” she said. “We put them in the frame of mind that, for the next couple of days, you’ve got something to eat, a place to stay and you’re warm.”
Miller also enjoys going to schools and teaching children about fire safety.
“It’s absolutely priceless,” she said. “It’s so fun to hear their stories and they’re so eager to learn. It’s so fun.”
