Disaster Donations 

Anytime you hear of local, national or international disasters, you can help the American Red Cross by making a cash donation in these following ways:    

Local Disasters - You can help local victims of disasters in Monroe County by making a donation to the Monroe County Chapter.  Our local address is 1645 N. Dixie Hwy, Monroe, MI  48162.  Specify “Local Disaster Relief Fund” in the memo section.  You can also make credit card donations by phone (734/289-1481) or online via this website.   Your gift enables the local Monroe County Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to victims of disasters right here in Monroe County. 

National Disasters - You can help the victims of disasters in the United States (and its territories) by making a financial donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.  Your gift enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to victims of all disasters.  On those rare occasions when donations exceed Red Cross expenses for a specific disaster, contributions are used to prepare for and serve victims of other disasters. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local Monroe County American Red Cross chapter at 1645 N. Dixie Hwy, Monroe, MI  48162.  Donations to the Disaster Relief Fund (domestic U.S. disasters) can be made by phone via the local Red Cross at 734/289-1481 or via the National American Red Cross at 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org.  For up-to-date information about any national  disasters, please go to the National American Red Cross website at www.redcross.org. 

International Disasters - You can also help the victims of countless crises around the world by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation by mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local Monroe County American Red Cross chapter at

 About In-Kind Donations:

When a disaster like this strikes—whether domestically or internationally, people want to help and often offer individual and/or collections of goods or in-kind items to show support for the victims.  However, the Red Cross does not have the capacity to accept, collect, or actively solicit, individual or collections of in-kind donations in times of disasters.  Here's why:

Donations of Unsolicited Goods Impact Relief Operations – In past disasters, donations of millions of pounds of clothing, food and medicine came in forming a backlog that actually hampered relief efforts.

>          Facilitation – Processing of individual items requires valuable and, often, scarce resources.  The value of the items is outweighed by the expense to the emergency activities relief workers are attempting to perform.

>          Appropriateness -- Spontaneous individual donations or unsolicited collections may not be appropriate for

            the relief effort or there will not be enough of a particular item to distribute them equitably. 

>          Cost/Transportation -- Shipped donated goods is costly and particularly difficult in the aftermath of a disaster.

            Routes into disaster sites are often damaged or impassable and can be clogged easily with shipments of

            non-priority items. 

>          Local Procurement of Goods -- The Red Cross makes every attempt to procure items locally to maximize

            donations by minimizing transportation (shipping) and storage expenses.  Local procurement also ensures

            that the items distributed to disaster victims are appropriate for their culture and diet.  The infusion of donated

            dollars close to the disaster area also helps to stimulate the local economy that has just been decimated.