The Keystone Chapter of the American Red Cross is back home - back in downtown Johnstown where the original unit was formed in 1917.
The chapter, whose services include assisting fire victims, is one of two Red Cross units operating in Greater Johnstown. The other, Blood Services, is headquartered in the Johnstown Business Park in Richland Township.
"It's a professional atmosphere," Colleen M. Sherman, chapter executive director, said in talking about the move last year to the third floor of the Feeder-Canal Building on upper Main Street. "It's definitely been positive all around."
For years, both operations were headquartered together in several locations including a building at 307 Vine St. But as the Blood Services operation grew, the Keystone Chapter was forced to look for a new location.
After leaving the Vine Street building the chapter was based at the Richland Mall and later in the GKI Building, Upper Yoder Township, prior to moving to the Feeder-Canal Building. The chapter, which has four full-time employees and many volunteers, serves Cambria and Somerset counties and the northeastern portion of Westmoreland.
"Unfortunately some people don't see the chapter side - the disaster side," Colleen said.
In addition to responding to fires and other disasters no matter what the time or the day, the chapter also offers first aid and CPR training and provides emergency services to the Armed Forces.
Responding to disasters such as the destructive fire this summer at Laurel View Village near Davidsville and the many others that don't make the news has taken a financial toll on the chapter.
In 2006, for example, the chapter responded to house fires affecting 75 families.
But a fund-raising telethon and a $200,000 gift from Lockheed Martin Corp. have pulled the chapter from the brink of financial disaster.
Georgia Lehman, director of emergency services, said that last year's move downtown was a cost-saving measure. She said a number of locations both in and out of the city were looked at.
The downtown location is convenient because the chapter often has to work with other non-profit organizations that are also downtown.
"In a professional sense our offices are located in a more centralized area," Georgia said.
She talked about the chapter while looking through a history of the unit that began in 1917 as the Cambria Branch.
The chapter is located almost directly across Main Street from a structure that Clara Barton used when she came to Johnstown after the 1889 Flood.
Colleen and Georgia said that Keystone officials are looking at the possibility of holding a fund-raising campaign to restore the home as the chapter's headquarters. It most recently was the Gordon Mortuary.
"But we don't have a true direction on that yet," Colleen said.
Georgia describes it as "a beautiful old building" that has a lot of rooms.
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