Birmingham MPs back Red Cross at parliamentary reception

Call for more public support after record year for emergency organisation.

West Midlands MPs Eleanor Smith, Caroline Spelman and Roger Godsiff have shown their support for the work of the British Red Cross after the organisation experienced one of its busiest years for UK emergency response in its history.

Yesterday the MPs attended a Parliamentary reception organised by the charity at the House of Commons where they met with volunteers and staff to hear about their experiences of being deployed to incidents such as the Grenfell Tower fire, and the London Bridge and Manchester Arena terror attacks.

Volunteers from across British Red Cross services; from those getting patients in and out of hospitals to those supporting refugees and others combating the impact of loneliness in their communities attended the reception. Volunteers spoke about their reasons for giving up their time to support the British Red Cross and the evening saw MPs pledging to follow their lead by doing their own act of kindness.

The reception came after the British Red Cross experienced one of its busiest years since World War II, assisting 9,265 people in more than 1,500 emergencies across the UK in 2017 – 373 of which were in the Midlands alone. A total of 929 volunteers from the West Midlands gave up their time for the organisation this year.

Simon Lewis, head of crisis response at the British Red Cross, said: “Last year we saw an unprecedented number of UK emergencies and we simply would not have been able to respond without the support of our staff and volunteers.

“We want to put people and their communities at the heart of emergency response, to help communities rebuild and recover faster and it is heartening to see so many MPs supporting our cause.

“We know everyone has a role to play when disaster strikes, even the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference.”

The organisation is calling on the public for more support. Join your local MP and pledge your own act of kindness today with the hashtag #PowerofKindness