When you build a house, there are places where you combine several separate beams instead of one long beam, because it’s stronger that way. The strength of their synergy is greater than the strength of their individual parts.
The Red Cross applies that principle every day in Colorado: our volunteers work to build partnerships with other agencies and nonprofits, and then we put those partnerships into action to achieve real results.
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| We partnered with Westminster Fire Dept. to save lives. |
Case in point: this year, the Red Cross and the Westminster Fire Department have installed more than 300 lifesaving smoke alarms in nearly 200 homes in Westminster. It’s a successful partnership that was stronger thanks to the expertise and trust that each of our organizations have with the local residents who opened their doors to our volunteers, welcomed them in to install smoke alarms, and sat down to talk with them about their home escape plans.
We installed the alarms in homes that didn’t have alarms or didn’t have working smoke alarms, and we also changed smoke alarm batteries in homes where they’d let the batteries lapse.
The ultimate goal: to save lives and reduce injuries. We know that smoke alarms save lives; in most fires, you have less than 2 minutes to escape safely, so every second counts — and getting out safely depends on being alerted to the danger and knowing routes out of your home.
Here’s a video of our Westminster Fire partners talking about the successful program. (Note: we’ve installed even more fire alarms since this video was recorded.)
BY THE NUMBERS:
From March-June 2015, the Red Cross and Westminster Fire:
- Visited and provided fire safety information at 188 homes
- Installed 306 smoke alarms
- Replaced batteries in 66 existing smoke alarms
- Engaged 188 volunteers in the outreach efforts.