Services

Armed Forces

To request American Red Cross services to members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families, please call our offices at 785-843-3550, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The American Red Cross provides an exclusive worldwide communications and support network that serves as a lifeline between military service members and their families. For the American soldier and his or her family, the Red Cross is the connection to home, relaying urgent information — a family crisis, a death in the family, a family emergency, or a joyous birth. Tragedy can strike a family any time, day or night, and separation due to military service often makes it difficult to reach a man or woman in uniform. The Red Cross communications system is capable of reaching family members residing in the largest and smallest communities, as well as ships at sea, embassies and isolated units.

When a family faces an emergency at home, getting that news to a family member in the armed forces is crucial. The Douglas County Chapter of the American Red Cross has a cadre of dedicated volunteers who assist in expediting these messages. Our volunteers assist military family members within our community during a time of need. Last year our volunteers helped over 70 families and veterans through communications, emergency assistance, and the preparation of documents and evidence.

**It is very important for the service member's family to have available the full name, rank, branch of service, social security number, and military address of the service member when requesting Red Cross assistance. Without this information, there may be a delay in the message reaching the service member.

International

To request American Red Cross international tracing and messaging services, please call our offices at 785-843-3550.

The reach of the Douglas County Chapter of the American Red Cross extends around the world. We provide international Social Services, Tracing and Messaging to assist families in contacting or locating loved ones in areas of war and disaster around the world. The American Red Cross also supports international relief efforts to relieve human suffering.

International Social Services include:
- Locating missing loved ones
  The American Red Cross works with other national societies to trace family members in the midst of war, civil unrest, or disaster in other countries. Requests are accepted from any individual at our chapter or at offices on U.S. military installations worldwide. Depending on the circumstances, searches may continue for months or years and may end with the confirmed death of a relative. Yet many who grieve also express relief at learning the fate of a loved one. And sometimes, searches end with joyous reunions.
- Exchanging family messages
  When regular channels of communication are severed during war, the Red Cross provides a conduit for separated family members to exchange messages. Our chapter office provides the link to families caught in conflict around the world. Red Cross messages may originate with someone in the community — often a recent immigrant or refugee — who requests assistance. Or a chapter may deliver messages from almost anywhere in the world. Thanks to this global network, civilians, prisoners of war, detainees, and their loved ones are less alone.
- Making international disaster relief inquiries
  When earthquakes, severe storms, and other natural disasters strike, normal lines of communication may be disrupted for some time. Families in the U.S. who are anxious about the welfare of relatives in a disaster-stricken area can call on the Red Cross. When the national society of the countries where the disaster occurred is able to accept inquiries, information will be channeled back through local Red Cross chapters.
- Making health and welfare inquiries
  In peacetime as well as in the midst of conflict, whenever normal communication is interrupted, the American Red Cross makes every effort to obtain information about loved ones. Whenever possible, concerned families will be kept abreast of the whereabouts and well-being of relatives until normal communication resumes.

The role of the American Red Cross in providing international relief and development continues to widen in scope and complexity. The American Red Cross has established projects in response to humanitarian needs in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and throughout the former Soviet Union. Victims of numerous other less visible — but no less urgent — crises also benefit from American Red Cross assistance.

In response to each, the American Red Cross continues to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, individual national Red Cross or Red Crescent societies, and the Magen David Adom in Israel to alleviate suffering caused by conflict and natural disasters.