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Red Cross chapter seeks new home in Lisbon
The two agencies merged in 2007.
LISBON — The Greater Pottery Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is looking for a new home at the county seat.
Columbiana County Commissioner Dan Bing, a member of the Red Cross board, said Wednesday the chapter is rebuilding. The Red Cross building in Salem recently was sold for $86,000.
The Red Cross building in East Liverpool was also recently sold. The price was not available.
The local program is now being run by the Stark County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The Salem and East Liverpool chapters had been merged into the “Greater Pottery Area” in early 2007. The plan at the time was to sell the Red Cross buildings in Salem and East Liverpool. The Salem chapter was to move into the Kent State University City Center, and the East Liverpool branch was to find a new location.
The area covered by the merger includes Columbiana County, Goshen and Green townships in Mahoning County and the northern portion of Hancock County in West Virginia.
The joining of the two chapters didn’t take, however, and eventually led to a drop-off in volunteers, Bing said.
The boundaries of the Pottery Chapter remain the same, according to Dianne Bates, the new “service unit manager” for the area.
Bates said the title translates to “boss.”
Bates, who works for the Stark Red Cross chapter, said the new arrangement “is a better use of resources.”
She has been hard at work.
During a fire in Columbiana in bitterly cold weather, she provided a heated truck where firefighters could get warm.
She also handled response to fires, including two in which the families lost everything, which put a dent in the chapter’s finances.
The agency is operating on a fiscal year that began July 1, 2008, and ends on June 30 of this year.
Bates declined to discuss figures on the chapter’s finances, but asked people to send donations to the chapter.
Meanwhile, the volunteers are returning.
“Six are very active,” Bates said. “I’d like to have 20.”
wilkinson@vindy.com