Memorandum From the President on Red Cross Month, 1980

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

I have just signed a Presidential Proclamation designating the Month of March as Red Cross Month.

This act carries with it a certain urgent significance this year. Our American Red Cross is in dire financial need because of vast sums expended for disaster relief during a three-month period last summer. We depend upon the Red Cross not only to help us in time of disaster but also to collect and distribute blood, to assist members of our armed forces as well as veterans and their families, to instruct us and our families in first aid and water safety, and to provide a vast .array of community health services.

We in the federal employ can be of great assistance to the Red Cross by providing it with financial support, by volunteering our free time as volunteers, and by donating blood for the ill and injured.

Although the Red Cross is part of the Combined Federal Campaign within the Federal Government, approximately half of its 3,000 chapters raise all their funds in March. Additionally, all chapters use this period to inform the public of available Red Cross services .and to recruit new volunteers and blood donors.

As President of the United States and Honorary Chairman of the American Red Cross, I urge all members of the Federal establishment and members of the Armed Forces to support this vital voluntary organization.

JIMMY CARTER