Red Cross Good News

Bob and his wife Teresa, both professional clowns, began volunteering with the American Red Cross of Southern Maryland (La Plata) and attending classes to learn more about disaster preparedness. Before they knew it, the Red Cross office offered Bob a position as the special events and volunteer coordinator. Teresa followed with an offer to run the call center. Bob also lectures for the Red Cross in a newly created course entitled Don’t Clown Around with Disaster Preparedness. Bob also helped create the Red Nose Responders, volunteer clowns who bring comic relief in times of disaster.

Northern Nevada Chapter (Reno) 2007 Hero of the Year, Jencie Fagan, was honored with one of three first-ever Congressional Medal of Honor for Civilians in a ceremony at Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. Fagan was honored for talking a 14-year-old student into putting a gun down after he had fired the gun three times in the cafeteria. As soon as he slid the gun away, Fagan ran over and hugged him. Fagan has also received the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Heroism, given to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

A young patient just arrived at Andrews Air Force Base from Ramstein, Germany, was very concerned about making a phone call to his parents, as they had not yet been notified that he had been shot. When he told his mother, volunteer Cynthia Redmond could hear her screaming over the phone line. He asked Redmond if she would talk to his mother, so she got on the phone told the mother her son looked great and was in good spirits. The soldier’s mother asked Redmond if she would stay with him until he fell asleep; she promised she would. Redmond kept an eye on him until he was helped back to his room. Before going home that night she went into his room, where the young man was sound asleep in his bed.

Recently the Monroe (Mich.) County Chapter received two major gifts to complete the purchase of the chapter’s own Emergency Response Vehicle. The chapter received a $5,000 gift from a local business owner, and the last $22,000 needed from the La-Z-Boy Foundation. The chapter has been saving for seven years for a vehicle, and reinvigorated the funding campaign with a recent Breakfast Fundraiser that generated the last of the funding needed. Monroe, Michigan, is the home of La-Z-Boy Inc., and the chapter has greatly benefited from their generosity for many years.

Brookdale ShopRite of Bloomfield and Nutley Park ShopRite donated ‘go green’ reusable shopping bags to the Montclair (N.J.)-Glen Ridge-Nutley Chapter for use at the April blood drives. The environmentally friendly bags were distributed in honor of Earth Day and as a token of thanks to blood donors for their gift of life. A copy of National Geographic’s premier issue of the Green Guide was in all the bags. The Montclair bags also contained a coupon for services at organic dry cleaning shop Village Laundry Center and confections created by specialty baker Eileen Painter of Montclair.

The Southeast Branch of the Pikes Peak Chapter (Colorado Springs, Colo.) reports that Trevor Pruitt was returning to school from a field trip when Alesia Ricks noticed he was having a seizure and not breathing. Driver Steve Quick pulled over to the side of a busy road and began chest compressions while Kim Richardson opened Trevor’s airway. Trevor was transported to a local hospital and released later that evening. Trevor’s parents credit the Red Cross training the paraprofessionals received for saving their son’s life. “When you do take CPR and first aid, take it seriously because you never know when you’ll need to use it. It could be 20 years like it was for me,” says Steve.

The Greater Steuben Chapter (Hornell, N.Y.) has taken March is Red Cross Month and Change a Life to create a large campaign throughout our county. The county legislator chairperson declared Red Cross Month, as did several Mayors in the county. Most towns and many area businesses flew Red Cross flags. Along with flags, the chapter provided banners that hung in various towns, including a two-sided 40-foot banner in Corning. The chapter also collaborated with area television, appearing on two morning shows with four segments. The response from the community has been very positive.

The Hon. Chuck Burtcher, Mayor of Guthrie, Oklahoma spent 84 hours living on the roof of the old Guthrie Fire Station to help raise funds for the Logan County Chapter (Guthrie, Okla.) Heroes Campaign. Mayor Burtcher, a retired Guthrie Firefighter, spent most of his firefighting career at the station. He was lifted to the roof of the station by the Guthrie Fire Department, and he stayed up there, in a tent, for 84 hours, through thunder storms, cold and wind. Mayor Burtcher raised over $1,800 for the chapter.

The Coastal South Carolina Chapter (Myrtle Beach) partnered with marathon officials to create the official training team for the Myrtle Beach Marathon. Coaches from Grand Strand Running Club helped CEO Angela Nicholas and Board Member Susan Mungo create the Red Cross Rescue Racers. The 14-week program offered professional talks on nutrition, foot care and other topics and 16 team members met on Sundays for a walk/run, depending on training goals. Each member raised a minimum $500 for local chapter services. With a $5,000 sponsor, the team raised $15,000. Chapter volunteers helped on race day to earn $1 per registration, for another $7,800.

The Southern Nevada Chapter (Las Vegas) dispatched over 25 volunteers to the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas when a fire broke out and roughly 950 hotel employees and 5,000 guests were evacuated. Red Cross volunteers assisted hotel staff by assessing evacuees’ immediate needs and directing evacuees to the proper areas for assistance, and serving as a liaison between hotel staff, emergency management personnel and the displaced guests. Following the disaster, the vice president for Corporate Philanthropy for MGM/MIRAGE commended the chapter, saying that the corporation is “truly grateful for the professionalism of the American Red Cross.”