We will be able to provide after school and weekend youth group programs that provide our young people with an educational environment. These programs focus on disaster preparedness and community involvement. Our plans for senior services include such programs as transportation for those who need it along with a buddy program to help with daily tasks such as shopping as well as building lasting friendship bonds. Through our collaborative efforts in the commuunity, we have already identified five new sites in north and east Manatee County as possible areas for expanding our services. The American Red Cross is a volunteer organization.
Volunteers perform the majority of our planning, delivery of services, and support activities.
As the demand for existing and new services has grown, so have the numbers of volunteers, thus crowding our existing space. Achieving success in this expansion endeavor would allow us to add workspace to accommodate twice the number of volunteers to support and deliver critical services to the community, and afford us the opportunity to expand our emergency preparedness planning efforts and our public awareness disaster education outreach.