 The
Red Cross On Tour program, now in its fourth year,
is designed to reach out to area second and third-graders
with fire safety and disaster preparedness information
in
a fun-filled format. The
Red Cross responds to and assists
over 200 area families
a year that are burned out of their
homes. The Red
Cross developed this idea with the hope
that reaching children with the message of safety
would
get them thinking about being safe, and that
the children
might share what they learn with their families,
making
our community safer.
The program works as follows. Two Disaster Services
volunteers travel to area schools in the Red Cross
Emergency Response Vehicle (also known as the ERV) to
meet with second and third-grade classes. The volunteers
will spend the next 45 minutes to an hour (depending
in large part on the size of the classes) educating the
children about how to be safe, avoid fires and fire
hazards, and about disaster preparedness. The volunteers
use
a fun-filled yet informative age-appropriate video for
part of the class, with the rest of the allotted time
being
spent touring the ERV. This part of the visit is the
part that the kids look most forward to. In addition to
the time
spent with the kids, the kids also get material to take
home and share with their family on being safe and
preventing fires and other disasters.
Last year the Red Cross was able to reach over 1000
children in 14 area schools in ten counties, and our goal
is
to reach more kids this year. If you believe your school
would be interested or would like more information,
please call our Disaster Services department at 865-584-2999
or e-mail disaster@knoxarc.org.
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