Preparedness

Being prepared for emergencies is crucial at home, school, work and in your community. Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood, workplace or school or can confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services - water, gas, electricity or telephones - were cut off? Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone right away. The best way to make you and your family safer is to be prepared before disaster strikes.

Prepare

Home & Family

Workplace & Employees

School & Students

Take a Red Cross Preparedness Course

Quick Resources

Local Disaster Information Archive

Flu Checklist

Be Red Cross Ready

How to Care for Someone Who is Sick with the Flu

Be Prepared Online Training Program  

Ready When the Time Comes®

Ready When the Time Comes (RWTC) is an American Red Cross volunteer involvement program that utilizes the valuable human resources of corporate America. The Red Cross trains employees from partnering corporations and mobilizes them as a community-based volunteer force when disaster strikes.

Volunteers who are trained and ready to help in times of disaster are always needed. The Red Cross is offering the RWTC program to companies to engage and train committed teams of employee volunteers who will be ready to respond immediately to a local disaster.

This innovative partnership will save lives and help people in communities affected by disasters, whenever and wherever they occur.

RWTC volunteers are trained in the following areas of service:

• Sheltering
• Mass Care and Feeding
• Damage Assessment
• Bulk Distribution
• Casework
• Medical or Mental Health (licensed professionals only)
• Community Response Center
• Intake and Management of Spontaneous Volunteers
• Media and Public Relations
• Partner Liaison
• Other service, as needed by the local Red Cross chapter
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Ready When the Time Comes is a mutually beneficial parntership that...

• Provides a way for companies to be involved in their community needs after a disaster
• Associates a company's name and brand with the American Red Cross--one of the world's most trusted charitable organizations
• Allows companies to give back to their communities in a unique and visible way. Employee teams are deployed to provide assistance during times of disaster, whether it's a natural disaster like a fire, flood, blizzard, earthquake, tornado or hurricane, or a human-caused disaster.
• gives employees an opportunity to volunteer to meet a high-priority local need. Employee volunteer programs are an excellent way to motivate employees, to build leadership and management skills and to encourage teamwork.