1956

Early in the morning of De-cember 26, a brush fire erupted in the hills of Malibu, destroying 99 homes. The fire raged out of control for a week, and the chapter provided food, shelter and nursing services at the Webster School for all families forced to evacuate.

1957

One month after the Malibu fire, chapter disaster workers responded to a mid-air colli-sion between a DC-7 and a smaller airplane that resulted in the planes falling onto the playground at Pacoima Junior High School killing three chil-dren and injuring 66. In addi-tion to providing first aid at the site, the chapter also gave further assistance to 17 fami-lies.

1961

Financing the Blood Program had become increasingly diffi-cult, so the decision was made to institute a cost recovery fee for the previously free blood provided to hospitals. The ini-tial fee charged was $4.10 per unit of blood.

1961

Expansion of the Blood Pro-grams services continued as a research laboratory was estab-lished and a rare donor regis-try compiled. Automation of blood grouping and typing was tested and improved.

1961

Disaster Services was put to the test once again as a major brush fire raged through Brentwood, Bel Air and the To-panga Canyon, destroying 456 homes. The chapter opened a shelter for victims at Univer-sity High School, sent mobile canteen trucks to the fire line and began caring for families and emergency workers.

1961

For the first time ever, 45-year service bars were presented to a chapter volunteer, Mrs. O. C. (Nancy) Welbourn, who had been an active volunteer since the chapter was established.

1964

All Red Cross chapters in Los Angeles County joined with the United Way of Los Angeles as partners in an annual fund raising campaign known as the United Crusade. The name was later changed to the United Way Campaign and continues today.

1960s1970s

The chapter began to step up its assistance to families of military personnel serving in Vietnam. Volunteers also were on hand to serve refreshments to troops debarking for Viet-nam.

1966

One of the most popular Red Cross programs for military families was making re-cordings that were then sent to their loved ones serving in Vietnam. The program was known as Voices from Home.

1967

Youth volunteers sewed and helped fill ditty bags with personal items that were sent to those serving in Southeast Asian.

1969

The chapter joined other local Red Cross chapters to provide volunteers for the Special Olympics held at UCLA. Youth volunteers aided partici-pants and led recreational ac-tivities. Volunteer nurses pro-vided health services. Adult volunteers worked throughout the early hours each morning to prepare more than 2,000 sack lunches for the competi-tors and volunteers.

1970s

Support for the Special Olym-pics continued throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s with the participation of thousands of youth and adult volunteers.

1971

On February 6, the chapters Disaster Services faced its greatest challenge to date when the 6.5 magnitude San Fer-nando Valley Earthquake struck, killing 65 and forcing evacuation of 80,000 residents. Shelter were set up at 10 high schools, and eight family relief centers were opened to provide assistance.

1971

Thousands were fed three meals a day in the 10 shelters.

1971

To serve those who could not reach the shelters, mobile can-teen trucks were sent out into the disaster area with meals, drinks and snacks.

1971

Among the thousands who vol-unteered were 206 nurses and five doctors who treated more than 1,000 patients.

1972

At the request of the Los Ange-les County Department of Health Services, the chapter joined with other local chap-ters to provide volunteer nurses to staff the countys flu immunization clinics. Red Cross nurses continued to ad-minister the vaccine at the an-nual clinics for the next 30 years.

1975

The fall of Saigon and with-drawal of troops from Vietnam had an immediate impact on the chapter. Scores of volun-teers took part in two major operations assisting Southeast Asian refugees. One was Op-eration Babylift, which brought Vietnamese orphans to the U.S. to be adopted.

1975

Red Cross volunteers also pro-vided 24-hour services at the Camp Pendleton processing center for the refugees. Oth-ers worked at a special center at Los Angeles International Airport and a central refugee center at chapter headquar-ters. Volunteer nurses pro-vided health checks.

1975

More than 50,000 Southern Californians earned certifi-cates in the chapters safety courses in 1975, with many taking the course in cardiopul-monary resuscitation (CPR) in-troduced that year.

1975

Technical advances continued in the Blood Program, and it obtained its first apheresis ma-chine to separate the blood into its various parts. This allows patients to receive only the part of blood thats need for treatment.