Sign up for the British Red Cross

Editor,

The British Red Cross responds to an emergency every four hours in the UK - from fires, extreme weather and flooding, to national emergencies including acts of terror.

However, it’s not just emergency services and the government that can help in these response efforts.

According to a new report published by the British Red Cross and Aviva, the large majority of people (81%) in Greater Manchester say that if an emergency happened in their community they would want to get involved, yet more than half (68%) of people would not know what to do if a disaster struck.

In partnership with Aviva, we are calling on people across Greater Manchester to sign up to a new scheme called community reserve volunteers, to help create a national network of 10,000 people ready to help in a local emergency.

Last year we faced an unprecedented number of major emergencies including in London and Manchester.

These incidents brought tragedy to so many people, but we also saw remarkable acts of kindness, as people and businesses rallied to help in any way they could.

We saw that people want to help those in crisis.

Everyone has a role to play when disaster strikes, even the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference.

It’s quick and easy to sign up online, you don’t need specialist skills and we need your help now more than ever.

So please sign up today, it takes just ten minutes redcross.org.uk/reserves 

Simon Lewis

Head of Crisis Response

British Red Cross

The views expressed are those of the author of the letter and not those of Oldham Chronicle.