Active service

Press, 1 May 1981, Page 9

Active service

What is your image of Red Cross? do you think of its members as elderly “bandage wrappers.” of being concerned only with overseas disasters and wars and only vaguely with the welfare oi New Zealanders? Such an image could not be further from the truth. In the Christchurch and surrounding areas, for instance ; the tasks of Red Cross include: • The delivery of 700 meals a day (Monday to Friday) tc the sick, aged and infirm. • An extensive visiting service for the needy, sick, aged and infirm. • Tutorial services on first aid to industry, to tertiary educational institutions and to the public generally.

• The distribution of clothing and bedding to those in need. • The maintenance ot teams trained in emergency relief and disaster operations. • The operation of a library for the sick, aged and infirm. • The provision of health, first aid and baby sitting courses in secondary and primary schools by professional tutors. • The provision of beautycare treatment to long-term hospital patients. • Fund-raising activities tc support local, national and international Red Cross projects. Red Cross is nothing more .than an idea followed by action. It is an idea envei-

.oped in an organisational structure through which all men (all races, all religions and all political beliefs) can work to lessen and often prevent endless numbers of moral and physical sufferings of men, women and children.

There is hardly a field ol humanitarian endeavour that is not touched or affected by Red Cross.

More than half the money raised by Red Cross in New Zealand is spent in this country. There are many countries in the world, however, which have a greater need for financial assistance to counter effects of poverty, starvation, war and natural disasters.