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SALT LAKE CITY — The American Red Cross renewed its agreement with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Thursday to provide support for each other working toward shared goals to be prepared and help those in need.
The agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, helps streamline disaster responses.
The church is offering financial support as well. The Red Cross announced Friday that it had received a $7.35 million donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "to support Red Cross disaster response, blood donation efforts, treatment for sickle cell patients and outreach to underserved communities."
The two organizations said they have been partnering for over 100 years — dating back to Red Cross founder Clara Barton and Emmeline B. Wells, then-president of the church's Relief Society. Church members host "more blood drives and collect more blood donations across the U.S. than any other partner, offer support in wake of disasters, help provide lifesaving vaccines for children around the world and support Red Cross programs serving the military community," according to the Red Cross.
"Together, we can broaden our impact and make a significant difference in the lives of individuals affected by emergencies," said Heidi Ruster, CEO of the American Red Cross Utah-Nevada Region.
This is the fifth time the church and the Red Cross have amended their agreement since the first was signed in 2005, and Ruster said the new version has evolved but the spirit of the memorandum is the same.
"It is all about recognizing that as organizations that support communities broadly, and work to both try to alleviate suffering in a variety of ways, it makes sense for us to partner to be able to enhance ... what we (both) do," Ruster said.
This agreement has a few differences; it incorporates JustServe, a free service that links volunteers with community needs, and adds specifics for how the Red Cross can provide its curriculum and educational resources to the church. Ruster said they added specifics in the agreement to ease setting up blood drives or shelters at church buildings around the United States.
"We've just provided a lot more clarity, I think, through this document than ever," she said.
Ruster said having the agreement in place helps things run smoothly and outlines how members of the church can volunteer in an emergency through the Red Cross, or through the church.
The Red Cross said in a statement that this is the fifth agreement the church has entered into with the Red Cross starting in 2005. Ruster said the agreement is meant to be reviewed in two years, and the organizations could decide to update it or leave it as it is written at that point.
She said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of multiple churches working with the Red Cross and sharing different resources, including the Catholic Church, Protestant congregations and the Southern Baptist church — which she said has feeding operations that they lend to disaster responses.
With the Church of Jesus Christ, Ruster said they have worked to connect the dots between the organizations, like having the volunteer services leader at the Red Cross join the JustServe board.
She said the Red Cross relies on the generosity of others, who give both blood and finances. The Red Cross said Latter-day Saints donate around 97,000 units of blood each year and save lives.
"We're just so lucky and fortunate to have a partnership with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think the clarity of the relationship continues to improve and the ways in which we can get our mission out there is even better," Ruster said.
The Church of Jesus Christ said in a press release on Thursday that it had donated $8.7 million to the American Red Cross in 2023, part of the $1.3 billion in welfare and self-reliance expenditures.
Ruster said money from the church over the last year helped the Red Cross bring in more Black donors to help those with sickle cell disease and helped them establish more fixed blood donation centers to encourage consistency in blood donations.
She expressed a "continued appreciation" for the relationship with the church.
"It's partnerships and in really engaging with each other that makes the difference for our community every day," Ruster said.
