Smith County Red Cross gets national accolades

The Smith County of the American Red Cross has been named one of 80 best-performing chapters in the United States by the national American Red Cross, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Atotal of 805 chapters were evaluated in fiscal year 2006.

To achieve this outstanding designation, the chapter was scored on a comprehensive set of performance criteria through its Chapter Performance Standards system.

The Smith County Chapter, which is made of up 5 employees and 100 of volunteers supports the Smith, Cherokee, Henderson, and Wood county communities by providing lifesaving health and safety training, responding to disaster incidents, assisting members of the military and their families.

"This is an outstanding achievement for our chapter," said Tammy Prater, chapter executive. "This award is the direct result of the hard work of our employees and volunteers including the members or our local board, and would not have been possible without the support of donors and agencies in East Texas."

Last year alone, more than 5,500 individuals participated in CPR and other training courses, 499 individuals were assisted with disasters including a train derailment, tornado, and hundreds of home fires.

The Smith County Red Cross also delivered 332 emergency messages for military families in need and reached out to thousands of East Texas residents to help them prepare and respond to disasters.

All of this is possible thanks to the generous gift of time and money provided by the residents of East Texas community.