The Fifties: War and Disasters
Red Cross involvement in the Korean War began in 1951. And again Red Cross services were provided to military personnel and their families. The New York Blood Program provided 400,000 pints for injured soldiers and civilians in Korea.

Hurricane Diane struck in 1955, causing massive flooding throughout the region. Calls from frightened parents of 100,000 children staying in summer camps upstate flooded telephone lines of city chapters.

Another maritime tragedy occurred in 1956, when the Andrea Doria sank in the Atlantic, killing 50 passengers. Rescue boats took those who survived to New York, into the waiting arms of Red Cross volunteers.

The Birth of the American Red Cross in Greater New York
In 1959 the American Red Cross in Greater New York was formed, uniting Red Cross units in the five boroughs into a single citywide organization, while at the same time recognizing their local status. Later, chapters in Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Sullivan counties would join ARC/GNY. The headquarters building at 150 Amsterdam Avenue was dedicated in 1963.

More Disasters, Another War
The New York Red Cross coped with three major disasters in 1960. Hurricane Donna caused major flooding in parts of the city and more than 100 families turned to the Red Cross for help. Two passenger planes collided over Staten Island in 1960, killing 134 and raining debris over parts of the borough and Brooklyn. Red Cross volunteers assisted people on the ground, nurses set up a morgue at the scene, and later the Red Cross helped families of the victims. Then a fire aboard the aircraft carrier Constellation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard killed 50 people and injured 215. Again the Red Cross provided assistance and blood.

Help and Hope for the Homeless
In 1985, in response to a growing problem of homelessness in the city, the Red Cross opened its first family center for homeless mothers and their children in Manhattan. It was also the first of its kind in New York, and was the model for similar facilities throughout the city. A second Red Cross center opened a year later. Then for seven years the Red Cross operated a center in Brooklyn for one- and two-parent families.

New York Continues to Battle Disasters
Hurricane Hugo devastated Puerto Rico and the Carolinas in 1989, the costliest disaster in Red Cross history at the time. In addition to embarking on a huge fund raising campaign, the Red Cross in New York sent more than 200 volunteers, many of them Spanish-speaking, to assist in the relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Some of the volunteers from the New York City Fire Department later banded together as the Disaster Assistance Response Team. Members of the group have volunteered for numerous disaster operations since.
The Red Cross in New York coped with a number of tragic disasters in the Nineties. A Bronx social club fire killed 87 people in 1990. The Red Cross coordinated the provision of assistance to the victims' families and chartered a plane to fly bodies of 50 victims to their native Honduras for burial. In 1993 a bomb exploded at the World Trade Center and the Red Cross provided counseling to many of the occupants of the complex. These efforts developed into a formal Red Cross mental health counseling program for the Red Cross in New York.

Project Search Launched
In 1991, the Red Cross in New York launched Project Search, which helps families obtain information about victims of the Holocaust. The service, part of the national Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Service, is in the tradition of Clara Barton, who was the first investigator of missing soldiers. She was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to head the missing soldiers office in the Civil War, becoming the first woman ever to run a federal bureau.

Nature Shows Its Fury
In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida and then Hurricane Iniki hit Hawaii, resulting in the largest Red Cross relief effort in its history. New York raised 10 percent of the cost and sent some 60 volunteers to help. Then in December the Red Cross in New York faced its largest disaster relief operation when a coastal storm blasted the metropolitan area. Some 20,000 homes were damaged, 36 shelters were opened and more than 1,800 people were housed temporarily at a cost of $2.1 million. It was also the first test of a new Red Cross support structure in New York State in which volunteers from throughout New York responded to help.

A Goodbye to Red Cross Service Veterans
With a final ceremony in New York's Central Park, the Red Cross Overseas Service League disbanded in 1997.The League was founded by women who served with the Red Cross overseas in World War I, then added those from World War II.

Families of Plane Crash Victims Comforted
Red Cross volunteers helped families cope after a number of tragic plane crashes during the Nineties. An Avianca airliner from Columbia crashed on Long Island in 1992, killing 73 passengers. In 1996 230 people died when a TWA plane crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from Kennedy Airport. A Swissair flight from New York crashed near Nova Scotia in 1998, with 229 victims, and an Egyptair plane crashed in the Atlantic in 1999, killing 217 people. Both flights had also departed from New York.