[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 A TRIBUTE TO ROBERT WUSSLER FOR 19 YEARS OF SERVICE WITH THE RED CROSS

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                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2002

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like today to commend 
Robert Wussler for his 19 years of public service with the San 
Bernardino County Chapter of the American Red Cross. Under his 
leadership, the Red Cross chapter has quadrupled its budget and 
modernized its efforts to better serve the citizens of the Inland 
Empire.
  Mr. Wussler began his tenure in 1983 as the accountant for the 
chapter in San Bernardino County, which is the main population center 
of my home district. After serving in that capacity for seven years, he 
became the chief executive officer of the newly created Inland Empire 
Chapter in 1990.
  Since that time, the chapter has grown its budget from $300,000 to 
more than $1.2 million, and increased its staff from seven to 15 
professional employees. At the same time, he has reduced the chapter's 
dependency on United Way funding from 83 percent in the 1980s to 5 
percent today. The chapter is now computerized, centralized and very 
well organized, thanks to Mr. Wussler's efforts. It recently received a 
$1 million gift from a special donor.
  The improvement of the San Bernardino Chapter under Mr. Wussler's 
direction was recognized by the American Red Cross headquarters. Two 
decades ago, the chapter was considered near the bottom among chapters 
across the country. It is now ranked among the 100 best of 1,125 
nationally. Mr. Wussler himself received the 1997 Golden Bear Award for 
Management from the State of California, and the National Tiffany 
Award, the highest granted to Red Cross paid staff.
  Mr. Wussler and the chapter's board of directors in 1994 created the 
National Nurse Assistant Training program, which is gratefully 
supported by local hospitals and trains and certifies 200 students a 
year as nursing assistants. The chapter has also implemented a home 
health care training program and an acute care program to help nurse 
assistants further their career.
  Most important to the citizens of San Bernardino County, the Red 
Cross has been a lifeline for thousands of people who have lost their 
homes or seen their lives thrown into turmoil by disasters like the Big 
Bear and Landers Earthquakes of 1993 and the terrible floods that wiped 
out communities from Forest Glen to Mentone in 1999. The chapter has 
also helped in countless small disasters that have thrown individual 
families from their homes, and helped in planning for the disasters we 
will face in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, after 19 years with the San Bernardino Chapter, Robert 
Wussler has decided to retire. I ask you and my colleagues to please 
join me in thanking him for a career dedicated to public service and 
aiding the afflicted, and wish him well in his future endeavors.

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