Every Step of the Way

In the middle of the night, Richard C. received the call that would forever change his life. His elderly mother and brother had just been hurt in a devastating apartment fire.

"I rushed to the scene and found my mother and brother being carried into separate ambulances. Both of them had suffered from smoke inhalation and my brother had been burned," Richard said. "The night was a blur and it was hard to make sense of everything that was happening."

The Red Cross responders on the scene were there to help Richard and his family through the difficult time.  “One of the Red Cross workers took me aside and told me about what the Red Cross did and how they could help us out,” Richard recalled.  “They immediately gave me food and clothing vouchers for both my mother and my brother, since so many of their possessions had been burned in the fire.”

The next day, Richard met with a caseworker at Red Cross headquarters to learn more about how the Red Cross could help him and his family. During the meeting, he received a call that his mother had gone into cardiac arrest.

“When Richard heard the news about his mother taking a turn for the worse, he rushed to the hospital to be with her and originally told us to offer the assistance to someone else in his place,” said Adela Tizol, Richard’s Red Cross caseworker.  “I knew that he was going through a tough time and it was hard for him to think about the ways his family could benefit from the Red Cross’s assistance. I stayed in touch with him throughout the week while he stayed by his mother’s side to let him know we’d be there for him.”  

A few days later, his mother passed away.  When Richard called Adela to tell her the news, she stood by him and let him know that the Red Cross could help his family pay for her funeral expenses. “I didn’t have the money to pay for her funeral. Because of the Red Cross, we didn’t have to ask all of our family members to chip in for the funeral, which I know my mom wouldn’t have liked,” Richard said.  “She was able to keep her dignity this way.”

Adela also provided information to help Richard’s brother find housing after he leaves the hospital.

Although Richard had known that the Red Cross helped people at disasters, he hadn’t realized that we also help people affected by fires.  “I wouldn’t have been able to get through all of this without the Red Cross,” he concluded. “They came through for us when we really needed them and they’ve been there every step of the way.”

*names have been changed to protect confidentiality

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