NLRC director visits Aruba Red Cross: installs new board and visits emergency facility

On May 11, the new board of the Aruba Red Cross (ARC) was elected. During the visit of the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) director, Marc Hofstra, five of the six new board members were officially installed.

Greg Peterson, newly elected ARC president, expressed his wish to work hard for the Red Cross focusing on fundraising, and disaster preparedness.

A new advisory committee, which includes representatives from the government, non-governmental and private sector organizations, was formed in order to assess the current needs for an improved disaster preparedness plan.

Ingrid Jansen, NLRC programme manager, thanked the previous president Erlinda Leysner for her dedication and hard work in the past years, and for the excellent working relationship and cooperation between them. She also expressed her wish to continue this good working relationship with the new board.

Emergency Facility

On the same day, Hofstra and Sjoerd Tolsma, NLRC head of operations and support, were given the opportunity to visit the emergency home. The building was recently opened on April 7.

Hofstra and Tolsma were impressed with the quality of the building and saw that it was already in use as nine persons were temporarily being housed there after a gas situation had made their homes too dangerous for use, according to the Aruban Fire Department.

This emergency facility was visited on the opening day by the Dutch Minister of Kingdom Relations, Alexander Pechthold, who also held a press conference at the emergency home.

Ambulance

Former president Leysner also had the honor to make it known that the Valero Refinary employees had donated a sum of 95,000 Aruban florins (US$53,670) to help in the purchasing of a new ambulance.