[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

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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.