The Greater Buffalo Chapter of the American Red Cross has been named one of 80 best-performing chapters in the United States by the national American Red Cross, headquartered in Washington, D.C. A total of 805 chapters were evaluated in fiscal year 2006. To achieve this outstanding designation, the chapter was scored on a comprehensive set of performance criteria through its Chapter Performance Standards system.

The Greater Buffalo Chapter, which is made of up 76 employees and 1,460 volunteers, supports the Greater Buffalo community by providing lifesaving health and safety training, responding to disaster incidents, assisting members of the military and their families, and serving older adults through our Services to Seniors program.

“This is an outstanding achievement for our chapter,” said Executive Director Nancy Blaschak. “This award is the direct result of the hard work of our employees and volunteers including the members or our local board, and would not have been possible without the support of the members of the Greater Buffalo Community.”

Last year alone, the residents of the Greater Buffalo Community participated in 39,525 CPR and other training courses, responded to 394 residential fires. And more than 30 members of the disaster action team served on a number of national disasters.

During last year’s October Surprise snowstorm, which hit the Greater Buffalo area, the chapter sheltered 859 people for a total of 1,610 stays, served 43,396 meals and snacks, and distributed 2,998 comfort and clean-up kits.

The Greater Buffalo Chapter also reached out to 641 military families in need and assisted 9,467 older adults through the Services to Seniors program. All of this is possible thanks to the generous gift of time, blood and money provided by the residents of the Greater Buffalo community.

The American Red Cross, Greater Buffalo Chapter prepares for, and responds to, community disasters and emergencies and helps people lead safe and healthy lives. The American Red Cross is one of the oldest and largest volunteer driven organizations in the United States and locally depends on the contributions of 800 volunteers to provide its emergency services and health education programs.

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States.

The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.

American Red Cross Interim President Jack McGuire, Greater Buffalo Chapter Executive Director Nancy Blaschak, Greater Buffalo Chapter Chairman of the Board Frank Ziolkowski and American Red Cross National Chair of Volunteers Kate Forbes at the presentation ceremony.