Keating kicks off Red Cross month

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Gov. Frank Keating helped kick off Red Cross Month in Oklahoma on Monday as he recognized the American Red Cross' presence at Fort Sill. <br><br>Keating signed a proclamation

Monday, March 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Gov. Frank Keating helped kick off Red Cross Month in Oklahoma on Monday as he recognized the American Red Cross' presence at Fort Sill.

Keating signed a proclamation declaring March as Red Cross Month and commented on the special relationship the organization has at the Army post near Lawton.

The American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services Center at Fort Sill is one of only two such centers worldwide that process military communications, Keating said.

Between June 6 and Jan. 31, the center delivered 748,995 phone and 64,806 e-mail messages, according to the proclamation. During the same eight-month period, the center, working with 25 Red Cross offices in Oklahoma, delivered 10,400 messages for Oklahomans.

"We are very happy in Oklahoma to have such a marvelous military-state relationship," Keating said.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Red Cross and the U.S. Army.

Keating said the Red Cross served a crucial role following the May 3 tornadoes and the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The American Red Cross, chartered by Congress in 1905, has more than 1,500 offices in communities and on military installations worldwide.