For a few months in late 2003 and early 2004, I was a board member of the local Red Cross chapter. “Local” is a bit of a misnomer — the chapter is based in much-larger Rutherford County but also serves Bedford County. I went to the board meetings, but the board business seemed to be mostly Murfreesboro-centric and/or about fund-raising (at which I’m awful). There were also opportunities to volunteer for the various service areas, of course, such as disaster relief, blood drives or assistance to military families. But with everything else on my plate, I felt that I really didn’t have time to do justice to one of those. So I quietly resigned from the board.

I do, however, strongly support the work and mission of the Red Cross. The organization is held to a high standard — as it should be — and took a lot of criticism for some misunderstandings about the plans for some of its post-9/11 fund-raising. But consider the miracle of what this organization does, day in and day out, through hurricane, war, tsunami and through more individual disasters such as fires and major surgery.

I am sitting here watching NBC Universal’s excellent (and highly commendable) “Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope,” which is raising money for the American Red Cross for its tsunami relief efforts. Commentator Bill O’Reilly made some skeptical noises about how the proceeds from the telethon would be allocated, but (after some back-and-forth public sniping between O’Reilly and telethon organizer George Clooney) O’Reilly was won over, and he actually appeared on the special tonight.

Soon after the tsunami, I had an Amazon-managed Red Cross donation link up on this blog as part of a blog entry. I eventually replaced it with a United Methodist Committee on Relief link, in the fixed right-hand column, after hearing my pastor talk about the UMCOR effort. That change was not meant as any reflection on the Red Cross; in fact, I made my own personal tsunami contribution through the Red Cross link before I had the UMCOR information.

I used to give blood on a regular basis. I was one pint short of my five-gallon pin when I had to stop. For some reason (probably cholesterol medication) I had a false positive test for hepatitis. Even though it turned out to be a false positive — the Red Cross did a second, more reliable test before they even told me about the first one — they told me that I was to stop donating, permanently. Just think about the blood donation network operated in many places by the Red Cross; if that were the only thing the organization did, it would still be a miracle.

One thing I learned during my brief board tenure was the stress that military relief has placed on local Red Cross chapters. The Red Cross is there in the middle of the night to help military families get word to their loved ones in case of family emergencies, and to provide other forms of support. It was actually the military aspect that led to the founding of the Red Cross; the same Geneva Conventions you hear about in connection to prisoners of war created the International Red Cross.

Please support your local Red Cross chapter, and please stop and think about what this remarkable organization does for so many of us around the world.