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Contact:

Mary Miller
Marketing and Communications Director
American Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter
Work: (503) 528-5633
Mobile: (503) 789-5887
Pager: (503) 940-2019

Red Cross helps family displaced by fire

PORTLAND, Ore. – November 14, 2005 – Volunteers for the American Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter responded to a residential fire on SW Arnold in Portland .

Portland Fire & Rescue paged the Red Cross to help the family of four at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night. Two trained Red Cross volunteers arrived on the scene to provide cash assistance for lodging, meals, clothing and other replacement items.

Although only four Oregonian s were displaced by this disaster, losing a home to fire is just as significant to that family as the destruction of a hurricane or tornado. Red Cross volunteers provide local families with the same care, compassion and services that a family may receive when a larger disaster destroys a community. These smaller, less newsworthy disasters happen every 32 hours in the Portland area.

Residential fires enable local Red Cross volunteers to work with disaster victims and complete necessary paperwork to provide families with financial assistance, health services and mental health support. This experience, coupled with national disaster assignments and ongoing disaster training provided by the Oregon Trail Chapter, helps better prepare our community for a large disaster that could strike the Pacific Northwest .

All disaster relief and training is made possible thanks to the generous support of Oregonian s who volunteer and make financial contributions to their local Red Cross. For more information about being a part of the largest humanitarian network in the world, visit www.redcross-pdx.org .

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American Red Cross, Oregon Trail volunteers respond to house fires every 32 hours on average.
To assist the Red Cross in providing disaster relief, please call (503) 528-5634.
To prepare yourself and your family for fire or other disasters, go to www.redcross-pdx.org