The American Red Cross said the public will not notice a change in service following an internal realignment that took effect this week.
As part of the realignment, the organization shifted several tri-state area counties from the Peoria chapter of the American Red Cross to the Moline chapter.
- McDonough (IL)
- Hancock (IL)
- Adams (IL)
- Clark (MO)
- Lewis (MO)
American Red Cross Spokeswoman Erin Miller said the idea behind the realignment is to better serve communities and to better utilize resources.
"We are still going to be responding to fires," said Miller. "We are still going to be laying plans down and working with our partners in the community to make sure that if there is a large-scale event, that we are able to respond quickly."
Miller said there will be two offices covering the newly-drawn chapter: Moline and Quincy.
"It seems like a very large geographic area," said Miller, "But the Quincy area and the Moline area, they do have a lot of common commerce. I know that they are looking to build a lot more relationships between the two so really it seemed like it just made sense to align the two areas."
As a chapter office, the Quincy site will retain full-time personnel, but the site's executive director was let go last week as part of the realignment.
Miller said the executive director for Macomb's office was also let go last week. She said the Macomb building will remain open for the time being.
"There aren't any decisions at this point as to what we will be doing with that building," said Miller. "But right now, we still have disaster volunteers who meet and use that building. We have supplies stored there so we are still utilizing that space."
The Moline Chapter of the American Red Cross encompasses 19 counties in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.
Miller said 96% of the organization's work is done by volunteers.
"Our services have never really been confined to a building," said Miller.
"Even though it is different to not see that American Red Cross logo on a brick and mortar building, the services will still continue."
