Proclamation 6535—American Red Cross Month, 1993

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 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