Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee visited the Oakland shelter to meet those affected by the fire. Photographer: Chris Raponi | American Red Cross
By: Carolina Dratva, American Red Cross Volunteer
When I arrived at a shelter in Oakland, Calif., set up in the wake of a devastating apartment fire, I immediately noticed a young girl. She was no older than 13 and was caring for her six-month-old sister, the youngest resident in the shelter. I could only imagine the fear and uncertainty they must have experienced after being forced to evacuate a fire so severe that it left approximately 70 people displaced and sent four people to the hospital.
Connie Borrego (L), Roxanne Anderson (M) and Liz Dietz (R) serving dinner outdoors.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, has over 9 million veterans enrolled in its health care system. Veterans often require extensive medical care, which puts a strain on families who don’t live near VA hospitals yet want to be with their loved ones. A core mission of the American Red Cross is to provide humanitarian support to military members and their families and for the past two years, the Red Cross has partnered with Fisher House as a key resource for veteran families during health crises.
Richard and Add Beale were fossil-hunting in the area near Chinese Camp, off the road to Yosemite, about a decade ago when they noticed a ‘for sale’ sign. A few years later they sold their home and packed up their two children and moved to the town where they’ve become community icons.
The American Red Cross could not help communities recover from disasters without the help of community partners. In Chinese Camp, a historic small town outside Sonora that was devastated when a lightning-sparked fire swept through on September 2, 2025, one standout partnership included Richard and Add Beale, owners of the Chinese Camp Store.
Ten years ago, when the Beales first noticed the “for sale” sign on the run-down store and tavern on the road from Sonora to Yosemite, they could not have imagined they would be where they are today: the well-established owners of the store and serving as the Chinese Camp’s recovery hub from wildfires that destroyed 50 of the homes in a community that has only 150 residents.
National Heart Month is a reminder of something simple but powerful: in the moments when a life hangs in the balance, it’s often a nearby neighbor or a Good Samaritan who becomes the first source of hope. Cardiac emergencies can happen anywhere — at a food distribution site, in a community center or during an ordinary day — and when they do, the people closest to us are the ones who make the difference.
That spirit of looking out for one another is what drives the American Red Cross Community Adaptation Program in Tulare County. As one of only 19 communities nationwide chosen for this long‑term investment, Tulare County is building preparedness from the inside out — through the people who already care for their neighborhoods every day.
Local school bus drivers helped distribute food in Guam after a typhoon
After a massive typhoon hit Guam in 2023, people on the islands were struggling to feed their families. While the American Red Cross had set up a shelter to house people whose homes had been damaged, there were many people in the community who were not staying at the shelter but still needed food and water. Red Cross leaders wondered, how can we get food to the local community, when there are no street signs for navigating and we don’t have a fleet of vehicles here? Bus drivers were the answer! So, the Red Cross worked with the school district in Guam to distribute meals on school buses because the drivers knew the streets well and had transportation available already.
After some time, Red Cross leadership was considering ending the feeding program in the community, but the volunteers in the field were concerned. They drove around to all the local bodegas and there was “nothing there” on the shelves, says Briana Taylor, Red Cross volunteer. “We went back and said, ‘You can’t stop feeding until we have food in the markets.’ People wouldn’t have had any resources to provide food for their families.”
As floods ravaged Planada, a small community in central California’s Merced County in 2023, Valley Onward, a local community non-profit organization, deployed its resources to help the local community respond and recover. They advised local residents on how to apply for financial assistance and led community discussions on where to find resources. As part of that process, Valley Onward applied for a grant from the California Office of Emergency Services to bolster its response to the floods and create a more resilient community in Merced County. For Valley Onward, the eventual funding it received was a pleasant surprise. It would allow Valley Onward to strengthen its mission of creating lasting changes in health, housing, education and other areas. There were more surprises to come, however.
The Valley Onward team applied for a grant from the California Office of Emergency Services.
That is because before applying for the grant, Valley Onward began researching other emergency service organizations in Merced County. As Valley Onward project manager Joana Alfaro explains, “That’s when we first heard about the American Red Cross. We realized there were so many different ways to support and work with the Red Cross.”
