Drive Seeks $2 Million in Aid for Troops’ Families

The American Red Cross and the United Way announced a drive Friday to raise $2 million in the Los Angeles area for programs that help families of troops serving in the Persian Gulf.

The money will be used to assist voluntary agencies that have been helping the families of the 42,000 Southern California members of the armed forces in the Persian Gulf, according to officials of the charities, who were joined at a City Hall press conference by Mayor Tom Bradley.

“Some may say, ‘The war is over, why the need to raise money at this time?’ Let me tell you that the need is not over just because the war has been won,” Bradley said. “These families are going to be without their major providers for quite some time.”