American Red Cross

The American Red Cross maintains a chapter facility at 3939 Broadway in Allentown, Pennsylvania, serving the Lehigh Valley and surrounding communities as part of the organization's Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter within the Greater Pennsylvania Region. The Allentown location functions as a multipurpose site, combining blood collection operations, health and safety training classrooms, disaster response coordination, and volunteer services under one roof. It is one of the more visible humanitarian service addresses in Lehigh County, and residents encounter it in a variety of circumstances: donating blood on a scheduled appointment, sitting for a CPR recertification course, or receiving emergency assistance in the hours after a house fire.

The chapter can be reached by phone at +1 610-865-4400. The building offers a wheelchair accessible entrance and a wheelchair accessible parking lot, which makes the site usable for donors, students, and clients with mobility needs.

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, who modeled the organization on the International Red Cross movement she encountered while in Europe. In 1900, the United States Congress granted the organization a federal charter, a status that carries with it specific responsibilities, including providing services to members of the armed forces and their families and delivering disaster relief within the United States. The organization operates as a nonprofit and relies heavily on volunteers, who make up the large majority of its workforce nationwide.

Pennsylvania has a long history with the organization, and the Lehigh Valley area has been served by Red Cross chapters for more than a century. Over time, local chapters throughout the state were consolidated into larger regional structures for administrative efficiency, which is how the Allentown site came to operate under the Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter umbrella. Despite the regional structure, day to day work remains local: the volunteers who respond to a fire in Allentown at two in the morning generally live nearby.

Blood Donation Services

Blood collection is one of the most common reasons people visit the Broadway location. The American Red Cross supplies a substantial share of the nation's blood supply, and donations collected in Allentown help support hospitals and trauma centers throughout the region. The site hosts donation appointments for whole blood and, depending on scheduling and equipment availability, other donation types such as platelets, plasma, and Power Red, which uses an apheresis process to collect a concentrated dose of red cells while returning plasma and platelets to the donor.

Donors are generally asked to schedule appointments in advance through the Red Cross website or the Blood Donor App, though walk-in availability sometimes exists. The process typically includes registration, a brief health history questionnaire and mini physical (checking temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and hemoglobin), the donation itself, and a short rest period afterward in the refreshment area. A whole blood donation usually takes about eight to ten minutes, with the entire visit running around an hour. Apheresis donations take longer.

Eligibility rules cover age, weight, general health, recent travel, and medications. Most healthy adults 17 and older who weigh at least 110 pounds can donate whole blood every 56 days. The Red Cross also runs a donor recognition program and periodically offers promotional incentives tied to specific donation drives.

Training and Certification Courses

The Allentown facility is a regular site for American Red Cross health and safety training. Course offerings commonly include Adult and Pediatric First Aid, CPR, and AED certification; Basic Life Support (BLS) for healthcare providers and public safety personnel; babysitting and child care training; lifeguarding and water safety instruction; and workplace safety programs required by many employers and licensing boards.

Classes are offered in several formats. Fully in-person sessions cover all instruction and hands-on skills practice in the classroom. Blended learning courses pair a self-paced online module, completed at home before the class date, with a shorter in-person session focused on hands-on skills assessment. The blended approach is popular with nurses, teachers, coaches, daycare staff, and others who need recertification on a schedule that accommodates full-time work. Certifications issued are typically valid for two years and are delivered digitally, which allows participants to share verification with employers directly.

Class sizes are kept manageable so that participants get adequate time with manikins, AED trainers, and bandaging supplies. Course schedules and registration are handled through the national Red Cross training portal, where visitors can filter by ZIP code, course type, and date.

Disaster Response and Local Assistance

Perhaps the least visible but most consequential work done from this location is local disaster response. The overwhelming majority of disasters the Red Cross responds to in the United States are home fires, and the Allentown chapter dispatches trained Disaster Action Team volunteers to residential fires throughout the service area, often at the request of responding fire departments. Assistance can include emergency lodging, replacement of essential personal items, financial support delivered on a prepaid card, referrals to community partners, and follow up casework in the days and weeks after the incident.

The chapter also participates in the Home Fire Campaign, which provides free smoke alarm installation and fire safety education to households in the community. Beyond fires, the local Red Cross supports responses to floods, severe storms, and other emergencies affecting eastern Pennsylvania, and it can mobilize sheltering and feeding operations when larger events occur.

Service to the Armed Forces and Volunteer Opportunities

Through its Service to the Armed Forces program, the Red Cross provides emergency communication between deployed service members and their families, along with resources for veterans and military families. Inquiries about this program can be directed to the chapter.

The Allentown location recruits and trains volunteers for a wide range of roles, including disaster response, blood drive support, transportation, casework, administrative assistance, and community education. Scout troops, student groups, and civic organizations arrange visits and service projects at the site. Volunteer applications and role descriptions are available through the Red Cross website, and training is provided.

Visiting

The facility sits on Broadway in Allentown with on-site parking, including accessible spaces. Visitors coming for a blood donation are advised to eat a full meal, drink extra water, and bring a photo ID or donor card. Those attending a class should arrive a few minutes early and wear comfortable clothing suitable for kneeling during CPR practice. Hours vary by activity, so calling ahead or checking the local chapter page online is recommended before making a trip.