SIMI VALLEY : New Red Cross Office to Serve East County

Responding to a need highlighted by last year’s wildfires and the Jan. 17 earthquake, the American Red Cross opened a second county office Monday in Simi Valley.

“We felt for some time that the size of the population warranted a local presence out here,” said Brian Bolton, executive director of the Ventura County Red Cross Unit. “Then when the firestorm and the earthquake hit, it seemed clear that it was time to open a center in the eastern part of the county.”

Finding the office space was unexpectedly easy: the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Emergency Services, which share a disaster relief office at 59 Tierra Rejada Road, donated the 1,000-square-foot space to the relief agency. The Red Cross will be able to stay free of charge as long as FEMA and OES remain, which should be at least a year.

“We’re hopeful that by then we will have really demonstrated our services and be able to generate some community funding,” Bolton said.

Bolton said about 17,000 people use the agency in the county, including volunteers who take life-saving classes and those who receive disaster aid.

A smaller space, which Bolton said would be used for meetings and training programs, is being provided to the agency by the city of Simi Valley at a reduced rental rate.

Business was booming after only a few hours at the new office, with people signing up for first-aid workshops and volunteering to staff the office.

“We’re anticipating that we’ll get a lot more business in the community now that we’re here,” District Manager Diana Grace said. “We’re always looking for more volunteers, and this will just be so much more convenient for everybody in this part of the county.”