By Alana Mauger

On Veterans Day, and every day, the American Red Cross supports those who serve. In fact, the Red Cross has deployed alongside the military in every U.S. conflict since the Spanish-American War. Yet despite this, the general public tends to be less aware of our Service to the Armed Forces activities than other lines of service like disaster relief and blood collection.

To help raise awareness and to honor the service and sacrifice of active military personnel, veterans and their families, Red Cross volunteers and staff joined more than 150 organizations for the 7th Annual Philadelphia Veterans Parade and Festival last weekend in advance of Veterans Day.

“Locally, it’s really important for us to connect with veterans’ organizations throughout our region so that we can make better informed referrals,” said Jaime Boris, Red Cross Southeastern PA regional program manager for Service to the Armed Forces and International Services. “Even the day after the parade, we were able to make a referral to an agency we met at the festival.”

Around 20 Red Crossers – including U.S. Navy veterans James Jones and Gene Maxey – walked the mile-long parade route from Juniper and Market streets to Independence Mall East, which was the location of the festival. There, Red Cross volunteers staffed a table with veterans resource information for veterans and games for kids.

“The entire event provided a great opportunity to our volunteers to see veterans and families in action, especially before the start of the parade when they were able to get to know the history and work of the units and organizations lining up around us,” said Boris.  

Check out full gallery of Philadelphia Veterans Parade photos by communications volunteers James Jones and Ji-Fang Zhang.

Last year in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Red Cross delivered 3,158 services – part of the nearly half million services provided across the county – to help military members, veterans and their families prepare for, cope with, and respond to the challenges of military service.

From the first day of enlistment, service members and their families are eligible for Red Cross assistance, including:

• Emergency Communications – The Red Cross Hero Care Center is available 24/7 to deliver verified messages across the world when there is an emergency at home.
• Deployment Services – The Red Cross offers a variety of workshops, tools and support services to help service members and their families deal with practical and emotional challenges. 
• Services for Veterans – Red Cross volunteers serve in Veterans Administration (VA) and military hospitals to provide comfort, build morale, encourage volunteerism, and assist with benefits information and appeals. 
• Information Referral – Through our network of about 250 local chapters, the Red Cross provides confidential services and connections with local, state, and national resources across the nation and on 35 military installations worldwide. 
• Hero Care App – The free Hero Care App helps users identify and access both emergency and non-emergency Red Cross services from anywhere in the world. The app can be downloaded from our website, by visiting any app store, or by texting GETHEROCARE to 90999.

To learn more about how the Red Cross supports service members, veterans and their families, visit the Support Military Families section of our website.