[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 58 (Friday, May 12, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4519-S4520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RED CROSS ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I mentioned a second issue, and that is the 
125th anniversary of the American Red Cross. This year is 125 years of 
voluntarism. We have seen it in our own lives, especially in the 
Katrina episode over the last year.
  Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going in front of the Capitol. My 
office actually looks out over the Mall, and there is a big red tent 
with the big Red Cross on it. I have been watching that tent for the 
last several days. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to

[[Page S4520]]

probably 400 or 500 volunteers who had come from around the country 
from their various Red Cross entities, I assume from about every State 
in the country.
  I mention this because volunteers are the lifeblood of the American 
Red Cross. I have seen it directly in my own life, both as a doctor, as 
a physician, of course, as a citizen, as well as a Senator. These 
volunteers affected my life in a very direct way. I told them 
yesterday, as I ran the multiorgan transplant center at Vanderbilt, we 
did heart transplants, we did lung transplants, bone marrow 
transplants, we transplanted pancreases, we transplanted livers, 
transplanted kidneys. None of that could take place without the Red 
Cross because all of the blood that is required in terms of 
transfusions--liver transplants especially, probably heart transplants, 
secondly, and lung transplants, all of that blood comes from where? The 
Red Cross, from volunteers who manage the Red Cross facility and from 
the people who actually donate their blood.
  I would not have done all of the heart transplants I have done if it 
were not for the Red Cross, the volunteers associated with the Red 
Cross. People do not think about how much we depend on the volunteers.
  Jump, fast forward, 15 years and go to New Orleans. About 3 days 
after the levees broke, I was in New Orleans, more as a physician, as a 
volunteer, than as a Senator. I was in the airport there in September 
with evacuees who lost everything--their medicines, sometimes their 
family members, clothes, their home. Sitting there on the baggage 
belts, coming in on the baggage carts, being unloaded from helicopters, 
all they needed at that point in time was someone to talk to, for the 
most part--some needed medical help--someone to talk to and a hot meal 
to be comforted, some semblance of security, having lost everything.
  So who was there? Who was there right up front? It was the Red Cross. 
Once again, and almost instantaneously, shelters sprung up in 
Tennessee. But Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, of 
course, all opened their doors to the gulf coast evacuees.
  By the end of that week, 675 Red Cross shelters had opened up in 23 
States, which was the single largest response to a natural disaster in 
Red Cross history. Remarkable. Remarkable.
  Then, jump forward about a few months to what happened last month in 
Tennessee. We had tornadoes that came right through middle Tennessee 
and all through west Tennessee about 2 or 3 weeks apart. Thousands of 
homes were damaged. Many people lost their lives.
  Once again, it was the Red Cross that came in and set their trucks, 
had food cooked, talked to people, arranged for places for people to 
stay who had just lost their homes. There were tens of thousands of 
meals served. People were taken care of. And there was mental health 
care in terms of the devastation people felt, the depression people 
felt. They came to that Red Cross van to be able to talk to somebody.
  I mention those three examples because I have seen them. I saw it in 
Tennessee when I was back there talking to people whose homes had been 
destroyed. I saw it in New Orleans, 3 days after those levees broke. 
And I saw it for years and years and years, for 20 years of my life, 
when I saw it every day, working in hospitals, with that donation of 
blood.
  It is the 125th anniversary of the Red Cross. They had a gala last 
night. Karyn, my wife, was one of the cochairs for that gala. We were 
there to see the generosity of people who have volunteered and also 
have contributed. One person who was honored last night had given $9 
million--one person had given $9 million--to the Red Cross.
  It takes a lot of people working together. But all of that does 
provide a symbol of hope and compassion and strength and endurance. It 
is going to take the continued commitment of those volunteers to 
continue that, so I do want to thank you, those of you who might be 
listening who have volunteered and will volunteer for the American Red 
Cross.

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