Sam’s Club joins founding sponsor Anheuser Busch to bring Ready Rating to Somerset County
Somerville, New Jersey, July 27, 2011- The American Red Cross has launched a new, one-of-a-kind website, ReadyRating.org, to help both schools and businesses in Somerset County with their emergency planning and preparedness efforts.
Schools and businesses can face a number of emergencies that threaten to disrupt their operations, ranging from natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, floods and wildfires to outbreaks of illness like seasonal or H1N1 flu. According to the Insurance Information Institute, between 15% and 40% of businesses fail after a disaster; the Ready Rating™ program can help businesses from becoming part of that statistic.
The Red Cross Ready Rating program offers free memberships to businesses, organizations and schools. Members can use the program’s online checklist to measure their current preparedness efforts and receive customized feedback about how to improve their preparedness level.
According to Chapter CEO, Amy Sutton, “Somerset County has experienced large scale flooding disasters, so we understand how critical it is for our community to be prepared and resilient. The American Red Cross is committed to preparing our community by providing tools like the Ready Rating Program for businesses and schools. These programs, in combination with Red Cross training, give people the knowledge and skills they need to be ready before the next disaster strikes."
The nationwide launch began in an 8 city pilot program in 2009 with a $2.1 million grant from Anheuser Busch. Now, Sam’s Club is lending its support to the program by joining as a national sponsor of Ready Rating and has provided $500,000 to help bring the program to additional cities.
Ready Rating also encourages businesses and schools to promote personal preparedness efforts among employees, students and families. A recent Red Cross survey* showed that 51 percent of Americans have experienced at least one emergency situation where they lost utilities for at least three days, had to evacuate, could not return home or communicate with family members or had to provide first aid to others. Although 89 percent of those surveyed believe it is important to be prepared for emergencies, far fewer are actually taking the steps necessary to prepare.
More information about the program can be found at www.ReadyRating.org or contact the Greater Somerset County chapter at (908) 725-2217.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment