Kali Lingen

The Brookings County Chapter of the American Red Cross has been an influence in the Brookings Community for about 90 years and is moving locations to offer more services to the residents of Brookings County.

“The new location is in a high-traffic and high-visibility location for the community,” said Patrick Powers, chapter executive of the Brookings County Chapter.

The Red Cross office is moving from its current location on Fourth Street to 22nd Avenue in the lower level of the building where Century 21 Real Estate is located. The new office will be open on April 15.

“The new location will be more accessible, and there will be more room to expand in the number of volunteers and employees,” said Jessica Mueller, the chair of the chapter’s Board of Directors.

The Brookings chapter of the Red Cross does a lot for the community. They offer courses for residents in Brookings County, such as health and safety courses which focus on CPR and first aid. CPR and first aid courses for infants and children are also offered. They offer swimming courses, as well.

The Brookings Red Cross also provides disaster response to victims of fire and larger scale disasters. They raise money for the Red Cross’s national disaster relief fund, and Mueller said that during national disasters, the Brookings Red Cross even sends people out to the disaster to help with relief efforts.

“The most important role of the Red Cross is to be a lending hand through classes, disaster relief and being a part of the community as some aspect of support and just by being there,” said sophomore Andrew Jensen, SDSU student representative on the Board of Directors.

Powers said that in the new location, the classes the organization offers will be able to be taught at the Red Cross office instead of going elsewhere to hold the classes.

“We’ve never been able to teach classes on site, and with the new location, we will be able to schedule classes regularly, and we won’t be dependant upon what others have to offer us,” Powers said.

Swimming courses are the Red Cross’s most popular classes. Powers said there are 1,800 to 2,500 people in Brookings County per year that take part in the swimming courses. Several hundred residents per year partake in the CPR and first aid courses, as well.

Powers and Mueller both said the Brookings Chapter of the American Red Cross will benefit from its new location.

“The new location will provide a better presence for the Red Cross because, right now, they don’t have a lot of face time with the residents of Brookings, and the new location will provide that,” Jensen, a horticulture and animal science major, said.

Beginning in May, the Brookings Red Cross is bringing back Red Cross Blood Drives to the Brookings area.

“The previous chapter executives did not see the blood drives as a priority but instead wanted to offer more classes for community awareness,” Mueller said.

She said they want to be able to offer both to the Brookings community.

Students who would like to get involved and volunteer with the Brookings County Chapter of the American Red Cross should contact Patrick Powers at (605) 692-6772.