Volunteer for Sound The Alarm, Save A Life In Mount Vernon

From the American Red Cross: The American Red Cross Metro New York North Region invites all New Yorkers to volunteer their time and help save lives at the Sound the Alarm. Save a Life. Home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events on Saturday, May 5, 2018 in Mount Vernon.

“Sound the Alarm in Mount Vernon to be part of the nationwide Red Cross effort to help reduce the number of deaths and injuries from home fires,” said Mary Young, CEO, American Red Cross Metro New York North. “By volunteering with the Red Cross, you can truly make a difference in someone’s life. Please join us and help Sound the Alarm to end home fires by volunteering to help your neighbors in Mount Vernon on May 5.”

The Sound the Alarm home fire safety and smoke alarm installation event in Mount Vernon is part of a national campaign between April 28-May 13, when Red Cross chapters across the country will install over 100,000 smoke alarms. This event is made possible through the generous support of partners like the City of Mount Vernon, the Mount Vernon Fire Department, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Senator Jamaal Bailey, and Teledoc, Inc.

If you are interested in volunteering to educate people about home fire safety and install free smoke alarms, visit here. The American Red Cross will provide all training for this program free of charge to all volunteers and there are numerous opportunities available for every skill set.

“Grab your friends, families, coworkers and neighbors and make a difference together by helping create safer and more resilient communities,” said Young.

The Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters a year, including nearly 200 across the Metro New York North Region, which includes Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Sullivan Counties, as well as Greenwich, Conn. Most of these local disasters are home fires. Working smoke alarms in a home cut the risk of death by half, and having an escape plan further improves the odds of survival. The Red Cross wants to end these tragedies and save lives, the reason why the organization launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014.

Across the country, the campaign is making a difference. As of February 2018, the Red Cross and our partners across the country have saved more than 348 lives and installed more than one million free smoke alarms. This includes over 1700 free smoke alarms installed across the Lower Hudson Valley in the last year alone.

To learn more about the Home Fire Campaign, go here. Please help us Sound the Alarm by volunteering to install smoke alarms, making a financial contribution, or taking steps to protect your own family from home fires.

Red Cross Installer Alex Sen during a volunteer drive in Hastings-on-Hudson / photo credits: Caroline Sherwin