    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1993)]
    [Pages 446-447]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 6535--American Red Cross Month, 1993

     March 17, 1993

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        In time of need, millions of Americans, and others around the world,
    trust in the compassionate and swift assistance of the American Red
    Cross. Since 1881, the American Red Cross has served this Nation with
    tireless dedication and consummate skill in the face of natural
    disasters, war, and other emergencies.
        Nineteen ninety-two was an extraordinary year for America and the
    American Red Cross. In the hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods of south
    Florida and the desolate villages of Somalia, in the flooded bayou
    country of Louisiana and alongside the raging wildfires in California,
    caring Red Cross workers served meals, provided shelter, furnished
    financial help, and offered emotional support to victims.
        Hurricane Andrew, the most costly disaster in our history, cut an
    almost unimaginable swath of destruction through south Florida. More
    than 12,000 Red Cross volunteers and staff overcame enormous challenges
    to provide food and shelter for 170,000 people. Just four days after
    those relief efforts began, Typhoon Omar battered Guam with 150-mile-an-
    hour winds. Two weeks later, Hurricane Iniki roared across Hawaii, the
    worst hurricane to hit the islands in a century. The American Red Cross,
    stretched to new limits, coordinated disaster relief operations that
    spanned half the globe. In all, 16,000 trained Red Cross disaster
    workers brought knowledgeable, humanitarian assistance to the victims of
    Andrew, Omar, and Iniki.
        While the Nation focused on the aftermath of this singular wave of
    destruction, the American Red Cross continued its mission of helping
    people prevent, prepare for, and cope with emergencies. Every day, Red
    Cross workers in 2,600 volunteer-based chapters help the victims of
    single family fires, floods, tornadoes, and industrial accidents, an
    average of 150 incidents daily. More than 7.5 million people take Red
    Cross classes in water safety, first aid, and cardiopulmonary
    resuscitation (CPR) each year. Millions also depend on Red Cross classes
    and educational materials for information on HIV/AIDS. The Red Cross
    helps to save and sustain countless lives by collecting, processing, and
    distributing more than half the Nation's donated blood, the safest
    supply in the world. Red Cross workers serve alongside our Armed Forces
    wherever they are on duty, providing support and a touch of home to
    members and veterans of the forces and their families.
        Internationally, Red Cross workers risk their lives daily to bring
    emergency relief to Somalia and to provide food, shelter, and medical
    care in the midst of brutal combat in the former Yugoslavia. The same
    international humanitarian spirit enables the American Red Cross to help
    family members send messages to prisoners of war and search for
    relatives separated by war or refugee movements.
        Since its founding 112 years ago by Clara Barton, the American Red
    Cross has embodied much of what is best about Americans: their
    willingness to help their neighbors, to take responsibility for their
    communities, and to respond to the call to service. For this, the
    American Red Cross and its 1.4

    [[Page 447]]

    million volunteers have earned the respect of a thankful Nation.
        Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
    States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American Red Cross, by
    virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the
    United States, do hereby proclaim the month of March 1993 as American
    Red Cross Month. I urge all Americans to continue their generous support
    of the Red Cross and its chapters nationwide.
        In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day
    of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and
    of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
    seventeenth.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:56 p.m., March 18,
    1993]

    Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March
    22.