Red Cross spins off services

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XENIA — The Dayton-Area Chapter of the Red Cross spun off the Greene County Housing Program into a separate non-profit organization Friday. Recipients of services through the program will likely see few changes as a result of the transition, as the new organization was created by and is run by the former Red Cross employees who previously managed the program under the Red Cross banner.

According to Dayton’s Red Cross Executive Director Laura Seyfang, the move comes following larger Red Cross efforts to standardize efforts at the organization’s various chapters.

“They just said, ‘Hey, [the housing program is] not our core business, that’s not our core expertise,’ ” she said. “So we’ve been spending the last two years working to make sure that the services didn’t go away, but that we found someone that could run them equally as well.”

Greene County Housing Program Executive Director Penny Madry-Johnson and her current staff will continue in their roles, just under the new organization.

Among other services, the Greene County Housing Program primarily provides emergency housing for families who have lost their home due to an unfortunate circumstance, and transitional housing to assist those in the emergency housing program who need a place to stay for an extended period. Yearly, more than 100 families are served by the two programs, according to a release from the Red Cross.

“We are basically the same thing, just have a different name,” Madry-Johnson said. “We’re maintaining all our traditional services with emergency housing and transitional housing. We’re just changing the name and administration.”

The Red Cross will continue to provide various other services in Greene County, including emergency disaster relief, preparedness, health and safety training, and service to armed forces.

By Nathan Pilling

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Reach Nathan Pilling at 937-502-4498 or on Twitter @XDGNatePilling.

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