Red Cross Chapter to Close Madison Office

The Colonial Crossroads Chapter of the American Red Cross will close its Madison Chapter house to consolidate administrative functions and cut costs.

The chapter, which serves Summit, Madison, the Chathams, Long Hill, Florham Park, East Hanover, Berkeley Heights New Providence, and Springfield, hopes to sell the Madison house and use the chapter's Summit location as its headquarters.

"We've basically outgrown the Madison chapter house," said Mary Scheanen, communications and marketing manager for the chapter." It's too small to accommodate blood drives and health and safety classes."

Organizations in each of the communities the chapter serves already host most of the blood drives and classes the Red Cross offers. Schaenen said this will only increase with the sale of the Madison house.

The Chapter has partnered with the Madison Ambulance Corps for blood drives, the Madison Pool for Water Safety and Lifeguarding Classes and the Community House for Youth Safety Training. This occurs in Summit as well, with Blood Drives at Christ Church and an adaptive aquatics class at The Connection for Women and Families.

"I believe we can have a greater impact if we can bring our services to each 'Main Street' in these towns," said Christy Hodde, executive director of the Colonial Crossroads Chapter. " We will still hold health and safety classes at our Summit Chapter house which is quite large, but unfortunately our space at the Madison house was very limited and was unable to meet the growing demand of our blood drives and classes."

The sale of the Madison property, a 3,100 square foot property, zoned for professional use and listed by Godby Realty in Morristown for $750,000, will greatly reduce the organization's overhead and expenses, according to a news release, and these savings will be redirected to instructor training and the purchase of new training equipment.

Schaenen said there will be no staff reductions as a result of this sale and there will be no impact to residents on services offered.

"I applaud the Red Cross chapter's efforts in seeking partnerships with other Madison organizations to deliver enhanced services in these challenging economic times." said Jeannie Tsukamoto, Madison Council President and a long-time Red Cross volunteer. "I encourage other community groups to explore collaboration opportunities with the Red Cross to help prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. It's a win-win for our community."

The Colonial Crossroads Chapter represents the merger of the Southeast Morris and Summit Area Red Cross Chapters in 2007. Local Red Cross programs and services include disaster preparedness education and response services; life-saving skills training such as CPR, AED, First Aid, and water safety; armed forces emergency services, transportation and blood services.

"While the Madison house provides us with visibility in the community, our chapter has really outgrown that property," Madison resident and board member Bruce Groves said in a news release. "Even though the chapter will not be physically located at 1 Madison Ave., the Red Cross will very much remain in Madison and continue to serve the residents as it has done since 1917."