The American Red Cross Indiana Region responds to hundreds of home fires a year plus tornadoes, flooding, and severe weather, in a state that averages 22 tornadoes annually. It also runs the blood collection that Indiana University Health and other major hospital systems depend on. Here is how to give blood, donate, volunteer, or reach the Red Cross if disaster hits your household.
Indiana sits in tornado-active territory, averaging 22 tornadoes per year, and flooding along the White River and its tributaries recurs in the Indianapolis metro. Those are the headline disasters, but the day-in, day-out work is home fires: Indiana averages hundreds per year, and each one can mean a family with nowhere to sleep that night.
Red Cross responders provide emergency assistance after all of these events, and the region layers in preparedness work too, offering CPR, first aid, and babysitting certification classes at chapter locations across the state.
Hospitals cannot stockpile blood indefinitely, so the supply depends on a steady flow of Indiana donors at donor centers and mobile drives statewide. Trauma care, surgeries, and cancer treatment at Indiana University Health and other systems all draw on it.
Appointments are typically available within days at most chapters. Find one through the drive locator or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. First-time donors just need ID and about an hour.
Cash donations at redcross.org fund disaster response; goods are not accepted, so do not bring boxes of clothes to a chapter office. If you want your support to stay concrete, remember that a financial gift is what pays for the shelter cots, meals, and supplies handed out after a tornado.
Disaster volunteers complete several weeks of training before their first deployment. That investment pays off when a tornado outbreak requires dozens of trained responders overnight. Blood drive support and office roles are available for people who want a lighter commitment.
Displaced by a tornado, house fire, or flooding anywhere in Indiana? Call 1-800-RED-CROSS for immediate, free assistance. For donors, the standard verification takes two minutes: confirm 501(c)(3) status at apps.irs.gov, review Charity Navigator, and keep written receipts for any gift of $250 or more.
Sources: American Red Cross — Indiana Region official site (redcross.org); our Indiana charity guide research. Retrieved July 2026. We are not affiliated with American Red Cross — Indiana Region and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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