Red Cross Headquarters Still $250,000 Short of Completion

PALMDALE — Near the fabled Plant 42 military aircraft assembly plant stands the new headquarters of the American Red Cross, Antelope Valley chapter.

But the building, on Avenue P near 30th Street East, is a vision that is five decades old and one that has yet to be realized.

Several months ago, after spending $500,000 on the building’s exterior, the Red Cross ran out of money. Another $250,000 is needed to finish the building, said Fran Stewart, the chapter’s executive director.

The building now stands little more than an empty shell. The drywall has yet to be installed, the walls painted, the furniture bought.

The most recent setback to the building’s completion came earlier this month, when the Lancaster City Council said it did not have the $100,000 the chapter had requested. The council said it may be able to provide a much smaller amount, but that won’t be decided for months.

Still, Stewart is optimistic. The headquarters building has been a long time coming and it’s closer to reality than ever before.

“It’s creature- and waterproof-safe,” said Stewart. “Now we’re working on the inside.”

Built to withstand a magnitude 8.0 shaker, the building was planned as a vital resource for northern Los Angeles County in case the San Andreas Fault finally delivers the Big One or another natural disaster strikes.

The building is conveniently located near the airstrips at Air Force Plant 42, enabling the agency to coordinate air delivery of supplies, food and relief workers, should the need arise. There is even a hangar nearby so the Red Cross can warehouse supplies. And phone lines will be laid to allow the Red Cross to connect to the nearby Federal Aviation Administration’s sophisticated emergency communications network.

“We really can have quite a smooth operation in a chaotic situation,” said Stewart.

Large-scale disasters are not the only time the headquarters building will be important to the community. It will have a large training room that will double as an emergency operations center and an area for people to donate blood, an amenity the local chapter has never had.

From a leased office with just 1,700 square feet of space, the Red Cross chapter provided emergency financial assistance to more than 12,000 people and assisted nearly 15,000 others with information and educational presentations over the past year.

The headquarters building, with all it has to offer, is much needed in the region, Stewart said.

It was 1942 when then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the charter that created a Red Cross chapter in this desert region, which at the time was home to little more than alfalfa farmers and jack rabbits.

In 1943, a local family donated money through a life insurance policy to the newly formed Red Cross chapter, which the community had worked toward over the prior decade. The unprecedented $10,000 donation was to be used toward the acquisition of permanent headquarters for the chapter.

Stashed away in a bank account, the money sat untouched for years. Interest and an occasional donation along the way helped the building fund grow, but the American Red Cross Antelope Valley chapter still operated from leased space without a permanent home.

In 1992, a formal fund-raising campaign for a building was initiated and in May of that year construction got started at the Avenue P site.

The goal was that the chapter would have begun operating from the 5,000-square-foot building months ago. “I’m a positive thinker,” Stewart said. “I’m looking at July to open (the new building).”

She added: “One of the reasons it’s taken a little bit longer is it’s volunteers, and volunteers have to do their things and then they can volunteer.”

But after the exterior of the building was completed, the Red Cross ran out of construction money. So, the building remains uninhabited while the agency continues its decades-long quest to acquire a permanent home, one donation at a time.

Everything has been donated, from a flagpole to a $63,000 generator to paint and insulation, Stewart said. “People are giving their skills, their time, their money.”

There is a chance, Stewart said, that the chapter will secure money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the relief being offered in the wake of the Jan. 17 earthquake.

Ever the optimist, Stewart views the slow quest for a chapter headquarters in a positive light.

“The building’s been built from the bottom up to give Red Cross service (and) to service the community,” said Stewart. “It’s very exciting.”