Keep the Red Cross
Rick Buck - Advisory Council chairman, Lyon County Red Cross
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
AT 5 P.M. June 30, local management of the Red Cross in Lyon County ended. Red Cross had maintained a chapter in Lyon County from 1917 until Dec. 31, 2005, when the local chapter surrendered its charter and became a satellite of the Kansas Capital Area Chapter in Topeka under a restructuring mandated by the national Red Cross in Washington, D.C.
Maxine Pickerill served Lyon County well as chapter manager for nearly 40 years before retiring at the end of 2005. For the past year and a half, Liliana Heredia-Taylor has worked extremely hard and provided excellent service from the Red Cross office in Emporia. However, because of budget restrictions imposed by national headquarters, the Topeka chapter is no longer able to subsidize the Red Cross in Lyon County. As a result, Mrs. Taylor’s position as director of services was eliminated as of June 30, leaving no paid staff member at the Red Cross building at 904 East Sixth Ave. for the first time in over 90 years.
Residents of Lyon County who need the assistance of the American Red Cross will be referred to the Kansas Capital Area Chapter in Topeka. Although the staff and volunteers there are very professional and capable, no one who has been involved in the local Red Cross organization believes that the Topeka chapter has the same sense of dedication to the welfare of the citizens of Lyon County as those who have lived in our community and served their fellow ciizens for nearly a century. And as crucial as volunteers are in providing services, there is no substitute for the leadership of a Red Cross professional to manage the office and supervise those services.
Anyone who has ever suffered in a natural or man-made disaster, needed to make emergency contact with a family member on active duty in the military, received blood transfusions or learned water safety, first aid or CPR skills, has benefitted from the American Red Cross. In order to restore local management and accountability for this valuable organization which has served Lyon County since World War I, it is necessary to raise more money and recruit more community volunteers.
If you are willing to support a Red Cross organization that is operated by your friends and neighbors and that will serve the best interests of the citizens of Lyon County, please contact me weekdays at the Lyon County Attorney’s Office, 342-3263, or by calling 342-8781 evenings and weekends. The local Red Cross unit is not yet in a position to receive money donations, but will be more than happy to take your name and provide informaion about how you might be able to help Red Cross become a Lyon County organization once again.
Rick Buck
Advisory Council chairman
Lyon County Red Cross