The Red Cross

Some of my earliest memories are from Red Cross meetings in Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. My mother was a member for over fifty years, meeting with a group of women who were always working on a relief project of some sort. In the Cactus Lake hall there's a black and white photo of the group from the 1960's and there I am as an infant on my mom's knee. I remember the women making up kits of school supplies to send to some faraway country and they were always sewing--making quilts and "layettes". (Layettes are kits for new moms including blankets, bibs, burping cloths and diapers, usually all handmade.) Red Cross suppers with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cabbage rolls, spaeztle, jellied salads and a wide variety of pies reflected the German and Ukrainian heritage of our hamlet and the surrounding farms. My grandma May was in the Red Cross during WWII and so she was one of the many women of Canada creating "ditty bags" and "comfort kits" for sailors and soldiers. Red Cross kits for able bodied men contained 1 small diary, 1 pencil, 1 jack knife, 1 comb, 1 small note book and envelope, 1 tube shaving cream, 1 deck of cards, 1 "housewife" (sewing case), and 5 postcards. They sewed up the cloth bags, filled them, and sent them off. Red Cross volunteers also prepared surgical supplies. Five years ago the Cactus Lake Red Cross celebrated their 65th anniversary.

The North Vancouver branch of the Red Cross was formed in 1914 and its first mobile blood donor clinic was held in 1947.

During the First World War the hall of the West Vancouver Presbyterian Church was utilized for Red Cross quarters as well as for church services. The Vancouver Red Cross operated a WWII version of a food truck: a mobile canteen for the Air Raid Precaution events such as this spectacular fire drill on Kits Beach.

November 12, 1941

The first person to donate blood to the Red Cross in Vancouver was a “bantamweight” New Westminster grocer named Jimmy Muir. “Last week,” the Province reported, “the mayor (Jack Cornett) drew Muir's name from a hat and gave him the honor of being the first person in Vancouver to contribute blood in the Red Cross 'blood bank'.” Another early donor was David Smith, of West 12th Avenue, “a carpenter in the Boeing factory on Coal Harbour, where 500 workmen have each offered a pint of blood.” The blood was to be sent to the war zones.

http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1941.htm

The Numbers:

The Canadian Red Cross Corps eventually numbered 15,000 women. Of that group, the Overseas Detachment of 641 volunteers served in England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and parts of Africa.

They drove ambulances - often in blackouts, supported patients and assisted staff in military hospitals. In London, they staffed four “Maple Leaf” hostels and two canteens as well as assisting civilians in England. A number of volunteers served as welfare officers with military hospitals in the United Kingdom, Africa, Italy, northern Europe and Korea. Other activities included helping with the rehabilitation of the war-blinded and coordinating the distribution of parcels to prisoners of war.

http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=13079&tid=001