UPDATE Sept. 13 (also more details in separate story) Less than three years after celebrating its 60th anniversary, the Arcadia chapter of the American Red Cross has laid off all ten paid employees, who were sent home with only a few hours notice.
Among them, executive director Kathleen Householder, a nine-year employee who only five months ago was promoted to the top position at the chapter, replacing the retiring longtime executive director Bob Deao. Several others, including Ellen Velasquez, had been employed there even longer.
No official announcement has been made by the Red Cross and none of the names of any of the former staff can be found on the Arcadia Red Cross web site. The elimination of the entire staff leaves many questions to be answered, such as what agency will pick up emergency services provided by the Arcadia Chapter and where calls should be directed for services provided by the Red Cross to so many local groups. And what will happen to the duties of the approximately 400 Arcadia Red Cross volunteers, nearly half of which are students under age 18.
Unlike Orange and San Diego Counties, which each have only one Red Cross chapter, Los Angeles County has nine, including the San Gabriel Pomona Valley Chapter based in Pasadena, which will likely absorb some of the services of the Arcadia chapter.
Of the nine chapters in L.A. County, Arcadia, which had an annual operating budget of $500,000 as recently as 2008, was operating with the biggest deficit, and therefore was the one targeted in budgetary cutbacks dictated by the ongoing economic crunch that is hitting non-profits and groups that depend on contributions particularly hard.
In addition to many traditional Red Cross emergency and disaster services, volunteer community support programs, and emergency and first aid preparedness classes and supplies, the Arcadia Red Cross ran the popular Meals on Wheels program for 37 years, even though it is not a Red Cross program. Householder told ArcadiasBest.com that it was her understanding that Meals on Wheels would continue to be operated for a month during which time an arrangement would try to be worked out with the YWCA’s Intervale senior services to continue the program in Arcadia. It is undetermined how this will affect about 50 volunteers who deliver the meals to local residents daily, some of whom have been volunteering this service for more than 20 years.
Also uncertain is the status of regular programs staged by the Arcadia Red Cross, including the popular annual Monte Carlo night fund-raiser each fall. Less than a year ago Matt McSweeny was honored by the Red Cross as a Hometown Hero at the 8th annual Monte Carlo night on Nov. 21.
It’s not clear what will become of the youth volunteer groups made up of more than 150 local high school students and others that were coordinated by the Arcadia chapter to assists with many programs, including providing assistance at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Taste of Arcadia community fund-raiser program, one of the city’s largest and most popular annual programs that is coming up in just eight days on Monday, Sept. 20. The Arcadia Red Cross was to be one of several non-profit beneficiaries of the proceeds from that event.
The Arcadia Red Cross headquarters was built in 1984 on Huntington Drive between the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce and Methodist Hospital, the latter of which signed a long-term lease on the building for the Red Cross. The building was paid for before it was even built thanks to the local chapter’s first $1 million donation by Santa Anita Park’s Robert Strub, son of Santa Anita founder Charles Strub, for whom a plaque hangs in his honor at the building. is made the first $1 million donation Behind the building is an Arcadia Red Cross van and a disaster trailer equipped with more than 100 beds, blankets and other supplies for emergency shelters.
Please offer your thoughts and experiences with the Arcadia chapter of the American Red Cross in the “Speak Your Mind” comments area below the following video highlights of the 60th anniversary celebration.
— By Scott Hettrick
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