Red Cross Donor Development Officer Judy Vardamis (2nd from l.) receives a $1,500 donation check from (l. to r.) Androscoggin Bank Business Development Director Chip Morrison, Senior Accountant Debbie Poliquin, President and CEO Paul Andersen, and Business Marketing Specialist Daniel Bourgeois-Capozzi.

Androscoggin Bank is supporting disaster relief through the American Red Cross with a $1,500 gift from its employees and Charitable Giving Committee. The donation comes after an unprecedented year of disaster responses by the Red Cross. In 2017, the Red Cross mobilized 56,000 disaster workers – 92 percent of them volunteers – to provide help after 242 significant disasters, such as wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and other emergencies in 45 states and three territories. Within a span of just 45 days, these included Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate, the deadliest week of wildfires in California history, and the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas.

The Maine Red Cross deployed 140 times to out-of-state disasters in 2017, while continuing to bring safety and comfort to local families and communities here in Maine. That local work included Disaster Action Team responses to numerous home fires, free smoke alarm installations, and the standing up of shelters during the fall windstorm that knocked out power to more than 500,000 Maine homes and businesses.