Single phone number for Red Cross now active Published July 20, 2011 By The American Red Cross ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England -- The American Red Cross is giving military families easier access to emergency communication services through the use of one telephone number. All military members and their families can use 1-877-272-7337, U.S. toll free, to contact the American Red Cross to initiate an emergency communication message. When dialing from an off-base phone, the country code of 01 must precede the number. In the past, community-based military or families living outside an installation needed to remember the phone number for their local Red Cross chapters for emergency communications, while those living on a military installation used the 877-272-7337 number. A call to 877-272-7337 allows Red Cross emergency communications services to put military personnel in touch with their families following the death or serious illness of an immediate family member, the birth of a servicemember's child or grandchild or when a family faces other emergencies. Additional Red Cross services such as case management and emergency financial assistance referrals are also available. "The Red Cross has always been there for us," said Robert Gordon III, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy. "It's critically important to our men and women serving away from home that their families know whom to call in the event of an emergency. The Red Cross is now making it even easier to make that call." The Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces program provides assistance to more than two million service members and many of the nation's 24 million veterans. The Red Cross provides emergency communications linking servicemembers with their families during time of crisis; comfort and care in military and veterans medical facilities; access to financial assistance in partnership with the military aid societies; information and referral and assistance to veterans. For more information, contact the RAF Lakenheath ARC office at 226-1855.