The world is changing, and nowhere else is that clearer than at the American Red Cross.

Founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, the Red Cross is the world’s largest humanitarian organization with more than 13 million volunteers in 187 countries. As global climate change shifts weather patterns, what was once a hurricane or wildfire season is now a yearlong season.

For Phil Martinez, the executive director of the Red Cross for Southeastern Colorado being a member of the Empty Stocking Fund means that more lives can be saved. Donations from the ESF are vital to the Red Cross’ expansive educational program in schools across the region.

“A lot of the tremendous funding goes to preparedness classes for kids,” said Martinez. “We teach proactive organization, the concept of preparedness. The fund allows us to go into the school and teach kids how to prepare and to get their parents involved in it.”

Martinez recalled a recent apartment fire that decimated an older man’s home, including all the photos of his wife, who’d only recently died.

“He could care less about his couch and his clothes, but it was the pictures … and he cried in my arms for 10 to 15 minutes,” Martinez recalled. “I feel grateful that we are able to help. We arrive at home fires with mental health counselors, comfort kits, with financial assistance — people think we only do shelters, and it is one of the many things we do. But all of this is taken care of with ESF donations.”

Donations also go toward the Home Fire Campaign. The Red Cross partners with the Colorado Springs Fire Department and travels to underserved neighborhoods to install 10-year, battery-free smoke alarms at no charge.

Over the course of a few hours, the Red Cross and CSFD installed 90 smoke alarms and to help make more than 125 people safer. During COVID-19, the Red Cross saw a sharp rise in home fires because more people cooked in their homes.

“The Empty Stocking Fund is a very significant funding stream for us, and it allows us to be creative — to create ambassadors in communities, to find communities where there aren’t a lot of smoke alarms and get them installed and educate them on fire escape plans,” Martinez said.

Martinez is most excited about the Red Cross’ most recent program, Pasta in the Park, which is billed as a safety fair with community partners. Pasta in the Park is not only a way to sign up new volunteers but to find community ambassadors.

“If there is a wildfire, having an ambassador that lives in the community that can immediately be ready and point their neighbors to the nearest shelter, to go door to door checking on residents — they can expedite the process and save lives,” said Martinez. “We are really making an emphasis on creating those ambassadors so that way our reach is so much greater.”

By being proactive, consistently spending time on outreach and applying ESF donations toward smoke alarms, the Red Cross helps alleviate the burden on the community.

“If your neighborhood was prepared, you are going to make sure that it minimizes the expense that the Fire Department will incur,” Martinez said. “In the end, we save money and save more lives.”

Martinez also sat down with Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade to discuss how the Red Cross can make metro area communities the safest they can be. With 91% of funding going to the mission of saving lives, the impact of ESF donations to the Red Cross is immense.