American Red CrossService to the Armed Forces
Serving Those Who Serve Our Nation

Support of the American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) is an opportunity to Serve Those Who Serve Our Nation. As the United States approaches nearly a decade of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the members of our Armed Forces and their families need the Red Cross now more than ever.

Our network spans 700 Red Cross chapters, as well as Veterans Affairs hospitals and military bases worldwide. Through this network, our 7,000 SAF volunteers and staff:

• Provide services and programs that offer resources for deployed service members and their families
• Provide emergency communications
• Support wounded warriors programs
• Support hospital outreach and veterans programs
• Support families coping with the stress of deployments

“A recent study indicated that Red Cross services reduce emotional stress in 90 percent of families served.”

Who We Serve:

24 million veterans
3 million militaryfamily members
1.4 million active duty military
800,000 National Guard members/Reservists

On the Front Lines: Serving the Armed Forces requires us to be where the military members are. On 58 U.S. installations and 5 deployment sites in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, the Red Cross provides emergency communication services and resources to boost morale and quality of life. Each year, the Red Cross delivers more than 600,000 emergency communications, from birth announcements to notification of illness or death in the family.

The Red Cross emergency communications service is a valued resource family members can use to ensure the delivery of important messages to their loved ones in a time of crisis or celebration. Our verification service also helps military authorities make leave decisions for soldiers to return home to their families.

In deployed areas, service members use our on-base Internet cafés to stay in touch with family and friends. Red Cross lounges and canteens provide food, personal hygiene items, calling cards and even words of support through “morale phone banks.”

On overseas installations, we educate and serve military families through Red Cross health and safety training courses, volunteer programs and emergency assistance.

On the Home Front: Many of today’s military families live far from bases and the support services they offer, but many do live near a Red Cross chapter. Through the chapter network, we provide communications and financial assistance to these families, along with courses and information to empower them to cope with deployment and transition back to civilian life.

In Military Hospitals: Rehabilitation can be lengthy and impose new difficulties on families. To assist the 12,000 service members in “wounded warrior” units and military hospitals, the Red Cross trains and places volunteers who provide support to patients and family members; assists in upgrades to the facilities for the comfort of injured service members and their families; and provides recreational and therapeutic activities, special events and information and referrals.

Red Cross care continues after the service member transitions home or to a new duty station. And through its chapters, Red Cross volunteers serve millions more veterans in VA hospitals and other health care facilities.

Through the Get to Know Us Before You Need Us initiative, the Red Cross has educated nearly 1 million soldiers and family members about our services and benefits available to them. Through a four-hour course taught by mental health professionals, families learn resiliency strategies and psychological first aid to cope with deployment. We partner with military aid societies to allow grieving family members to attend the funeral of a fallen relative and meet other emergency financial needs.