UM Men to provide free smoke alarms in April

NASHVILLE, Tenn.––The General Commission on UM Men agreed to participate in “Sound the Alarm,” a Red Cross effort to provide free smoke alarms in high-risk areas across the U.S.

Original plans called for the effort to begin shortly after the commission’s August meeting. However, because of the unprecedented humanitarian need caused by the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, the Red Cross rescheduled the campaign for April, 2018.

Noting that seven people die every day from home fires, the 20-member board of directors, agreed to ask units of UM Men across the nation to join the effort to provide 100,000 free smoke alarms in high-risk neighborhoods.

Each year, the Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters, the vast majority of which are home fires. So the agency set a goal to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries in the US by 25 percent by 2020.

Red Cross trains volunteers about where and how to install the smoke detectors, and local UM churches frequently provide space for that training. For information visit https://www.redcross.org/sound-the-alarm

Gil Hanke, top staff executive of the commission, said the nation-wide effort provides opportunities for UM Men to become better acquainted with their neighbors. He suggests men should return to the same homes in April 2019, to install new batteries.