Cross Blog

We celebrate volunteers!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Volunteer Week was April 19-23. In honor of the hundreds of dedicated volunteers of the Greater Carolinas Chapter, the Service to the Armed Forces and Emergency Services departments held an afternoon appreciation event on Thursday, April 22.

Volunteers and staff ate ribs, potato salad and peach cobbler from Shane’s Rib Shack. Hope Martin, Jim Sheely and Robin Callahan presented awards to some of our volunteers for their hard work and dedication.

Thank you to our volunteers!

Interested in volunteering?

DISASTER ALERT: Storms in Alabama

Monday, April 26, 2010

In addition to responding to the devastating storms in Mississippi, the Madison Marshall chapter in Alabama has been busy responding to damage done by tornado touchdowns in DeKalb and Marshall Counties.

The Red Cross opened 1 shelter and is providing material support to 3 others:

Boaz Senior Center
112 Church Street
Boaz, AL

The chapter has deployed Emergency Response Vehicles with shelter supplies to both Marshall and DeKalb Counties.

Organizing Armaggedon: Wired Magazine Explores Haiti Response

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Wired Magazine just published an in-depth look at the challenge of rapidly bringing in and distributing massive quantities of food, medicine, shelter, and supplies to a place where the infrastructure has been so devastated.

The result is called: Organizing Armageddon: What We Learned from the Haiti Earthquake Experience

Author Vince Beiser contacted the American Red Cross National Headquarters right after the earthquake happened and let them know he would be examining the logistics of emergency aid for this article. They connected him with their workers on the ground and with the Federation.

Below are just a few of the many incredible passages that explain the complicated nature of disaster response.

“His job is to wrangle airplanes, making sure that the people and materiel on every Red Cross relief flight get to where they’re supposed to be. He’s been fascinated by aircraft since he was a kid, hanging around the local airport taking snapshots of planes.”

“Despite the massive scale of their operations, only in recent years have the people who deliver disaster aid begun to benefit from the kind of data-driven decisionmaking and rigorous academic study that their commercial and military counterparts rely on. In the past decade, the responses to major disasters have been analyzed in hundreds of case studies and pored over by experts, their conclusions field-tested in subsequent crises where yet more data is collected. Learning the right lessons could not be more important: The stakes are literally life and death.”

“To fill the gaps, most organizations have standing deals with commercial suppliers and transport companies. In an emergency, they order up whatever they need at a preset price, without having to waste time seeking bids and negotiating contracts. For the Haiti operation, the Red Cross alone brought in mosquito nets from Vietnam, medical equipment from Europe, and tarps, cooking gear, and hygiene equipment from India and China. Almost all the goods are made to detailed uniform standards. Every blanket, for instance, is the same size, thickness, even color, no matter which supplier produced it. That allows the logisticians to calculate precisely the volume and weight of each order, which in turn enables them to plan what sort of transport and storage facilities will be needed.”

“When they have to buy stuff that isn’t covered by those standing agreements, the Red Cross requires that the items fit the standards laid out in its online catalog of emergency aid. The catalog gives detailed specs for more than 2,000 items, down to the width and length of bandages and the vitamin content of powdered milk.”

Chapter CEO honored for her years of service

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Carol Rittenhouse, interim division vice president of the American Red Cross Division 6, thanked Pamela Jefsen for her 25 years of service with the American Red Cross by presenting her with a certificate and kind words.

Jefsen was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Carolinas Chapter in April 2004. In 2009, when the Red Cross made changes in terms of chapter structure, she was appointed the Regional Executive Officer of the Carolina Piedmont Region, which encompasses 10 chapters over 14 counties in Southwestern North Carolina. Under her leadership, the Carolina Piedmont Region has been consolidating back-office procedures and sharing resources.

Beginning in 2000, she served as Chief Operating Officer for the American Red Cross, Greater Cleveland Chapter. There she was responsible for the planning and direction of all chapter services, finance, budgeting, and internal and external audits. She was also responsible for the chapter’s strategic planning and diversity initiatives.

After 11 years in advertising and fund-raising consulting, Ms. Jefsen joined the American Red Cross Pine Tree Chapter in Bangor, Maine, in 1985 as Chapter Manager. Under her leadership, the chapter’s budget grew from $65,000 to $1.6 million. She also served as Coordinating Chapter Manager for the Red Cross in the State of Maine, providing leadership and coordination to Maine chapters and serving as Vice-Chair of the State Service Council.

In 1997, Ms. Jefsen was recruited to participate in the first Red Cross Star Track program, developed to prepare Red Cross managers to lead the largest Red Cross chapters.  In 1999, she was asked to be a Star Track coach.  In 2003, she received the National Diversity Ambassador Award for her work in promoting diversity in the Greater Cleveland Chapter.

In 1996, Ms Jefsen was asked to be a part of the American Red Cross Quick Response Team for major national disasters.  She led fund-raising for national disasters in California, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Puerto Rico.  In 2004 with the new disaster system she was appointed Organizational Support Administrator serving in that capacity during the Florida Hurricanes of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

She has a special interest in International Red Cross services.  Ms. Jefsen was certified as an International Humanitarian Law instructor in 1993.  She participated in an International pairing project with Botswana, Africa, leading a delegation of Red Cross staff and volunteers to Botswana in 1991 to provide information and training.  She has been active in the American Red Cross Measles Initiative since 2001, observing campaigns in Ghana and Kenya and leading local fundraising efforts.

Ms. Jefsen graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maine with a Bachelors of Science degree and graduated high honors from Husson College with a Masters degree in Business and Public Administration.  She also attended the Red Cross Executive Institute at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Techies Behind The Scenes: Disaster Services Technology

Monday, April 19, 2010

It takes a lot of leadership, coordination and different skill sets to run a successful disaster relief operation. One of the advantages of volunteering with the Red Cross is the great training. For all the techies out there, we have disaster services technology (DST).

Within 12 hours of a disaster, a DST team is already en route. Their primary goal is to set up connectivity to support the Red Cross relief effort. By using satellite technology, the team can network the operation quickly. Once the network is completed, DST will start issuing laptops and equipment such as cell phones, printers, fax machines and radios. They can set up a 100 seat office overnight.

Here’s the secret of DST: while the team’s tool box has some very high-tech solutions in it, the implementation is actually very easy.

All the steps that DST volunteers take are fully documented in step-by-step directions and there are experienced volunteers to help guide you through it. If you enjoy technology, can follow directions and can plug wires into the port where it fits, you too can be a successful member of the Red Cross DST team. DST manager Keith Robertory regularly tells people that he can take any three people who can follow directions and setup a VSAT systems in under two hours.

All DST team members start with their local chapter. Once you become a volunteer with your local chapter, they’ll provide you with the basic disaster services training. If you express an interest in DST, you’ll get enrolled on a five-part training series called DST101. 

Haiti: Frequently Asked Questions

Friday, April 16, 2010

Haiti: Frequently Asked Questions

This is part one in a series of interviews where our President and CEO Gail McGovern will answer some of your most frequently asked questions about our response and recovery efforts for survivors in Haiti.

Today, we’ve asked her to explain why you might not be seeing an overwhelming amount of American Red Cross visibility on the ground.

“…they’re probably seeing our tents, tarps, food, supplies, emergency relief kits wherever they go. We have chosen not to slap our brand on all of those supplies. The reason is we didn’t want to hold up sending relief items into Haiti because we needed to add our logo to them. That eats up time and in a crisis like this one we wanted to send things as quickly as possible.”

Update: Red Cross Response in Haiti

Monday, April 12, 2010

We’ve been getting questions recently about the visibility of the American Red Cross in Haiti and we’d like you to know what’s happening there.

The American Red Cross has been on the ground responding in Haiti since the moment the earthquake struck and has spent a record $110 million so far for food, water, shelter, health and family services. Our efforts have touched the lives of close to two million people.

Unlike disasters here at home, the model we use for international disasters is not to send in large numbers of American Red Cross volunteers who may not speak the language or know the people, but work through, in this case, the Haitian Red Cross to deliver relief supplies. This is a model that has repeatedly proven effective over decades of international disaster relief work because local Red Cross societies know the people, language, and geography and have established relationships with other organizations and the government. By working through the Haitian Red Cross, we believe we can empower them and help the Haitian people become self-sufficient more quickly.

So far the American Red Cross has sent more than 165 trained disaster specialists and volunteers to Haiti to help support and train more than 10,000 Haitian Red Cross volunteers. We are also working alongside hundreds of Red Cross and Red Crescent workers and volunteers from around the world.

The results of our efforts are evident in many areas around Haiti. For example, the American Red Cross has provided 111,000 tarps, 4,400 tents, 29,000 shelter kits and 248,000 blankets. These tents, tarps and blankets may not be marked with Red Crosses, but they were paid for by donors who gave so generously to the American Red Cross.

The Red Cross network has also provided relief items to 400,000 people, supplied meals to more than 1 million people, distributed 60 million liters of clean drinking water, built more than 1,300 latrines and helped vaccinate more than 152,00 people.

In areas where the American Red Cross does not have extensive expertise, we have donated millions of dollars to other organizations to ensure the needs of earthquake survivors are met in the fastest, most effective way. Those agencies include the World Food Programme to provide meals for 1 million people for 1 month, Habitat for Humanity to fund 14,000 emergency shelter kits to benefit 70,000 people and Fonkoze to fund small grants and microfinance loans to 16,000 people.

An unexpected encounter with Red Cross history

Friday, April 09, 2010

When assigned to my first disaster response to the Spring Floods 2010 in Massachusetts, I had no idea what other adventures were in store for me. True to form, as I’ve heard, you never really know.

On day four the local chapter informed us that the birthplace of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton was nearby in North Oxford, Mass. Eager to hunt down the story I set out on my adventure with Red Cross worker Alice Wilkerson from the Morgan-Lawrence County chapter in Alabama. In anticipation of our visit the museum manager kindly set up a surprise meeting with Ms. May White – the great grand niece of Clara Barton herself!

Ms. May is 101 years old but you would never know it. I was enamored by her presence and story, so much so that I had to keep reminding myself to take pictures and notes. The experience was surreal – I was on my first Red Cross operation accompanied by Alice who was notching her 60th, sitting in Clara Barton’s childhood home while speaking to her centenarian great grand niece.

Ms. May shared stories of her grandmother Mary Barton (Clara’s niece). Mary traveled to Europe with Clara when she was 16 years old and shared may stories about her time with Clara with Ms. May. Clara enjoyed Mary’s company because she was so much fun. Mary was allegedly chosen to travel with Clara as the daughter of her favorite sibling David.

As I listened to Ms. May’s past stories, I wondered how she remembered her encounter with Clara. After all, at the time she was only four years old. Ms. May explained that “in your life, you remember something” when it has importance. She visited Clara the summer before she passed when her mother, Gertrude Stafford, helped to nurse Clara. May and her sister Helen played in the quaint summer house (now privately owned) while Gertrude took care of Clara.

After our visit with Ms. May, we set off to find Clara’s gravesite in Oxford, Mass where Clara Barton Birthplace Museum Manager Emily Thompson was kind enough to give us a tour of Oxford en route. We persuaded her to take us by Clara’s former summer home where luckily the new owner was outside. Carlton Marshall is a sweet gentleman who shared his extensive knowledge of Clara – including having seen her ghost the day he purchased the house over 50 years ago. He chuckled as he added, “I might have had one too many drinks.”

As Carlton Marshall invited us inside I noticed Emily trying to hide the huge grin on her face. She had wanted to see the inside of the house for several years but never asked. As we toured the home Emily explained how unusual it was for Clara to own something so extravagant. “She was very frugal and simple. Often times when she traveled she would stay in more rustic inns and lodges” said Emily. Mr. Marshall took us to each room and level of the home.

As we neared the widow’s walk, Emily wondered why a home in Oxford would have one. These roof-top balconies are usually found in 19th century North American houses near the ocean. The name comes from the wives of mariners who would anxiously watch the horizon for signs of their husband’s return. Ms. May had shared the memory of her and her sister’s excited when they finally got to see the inside of a widow’s walk in Clara’s home. I thought of her at that moment and wondered in which corner of the walk she had played 97 years ago.

The day concluded by visiting Clara’s final resting place where Alice placed flowers from the operation staff. As we stood on the Barton family plot to take a moment to reflect the wind picked up and rustled our Red Cross vests. I wondered if Clara realized how important the American Red Cross has been for this nation. I like to think she was looking down on us and the wind was a pat on the shoulder from above.

Red Cross sends clean up kits to High Point

Thursday, April 01, 2010

After a strong storm front swept through the area this past Sunday night, Red Cross volunteers immediately initiated a relief operation. Hardest hit was the Davidson County area, especially the city of High Point.

Pictured here are Jim Sheely and Woody Williams loading clean up kits in Charlotte to transport to the Red Cross in High Point to support their relief operation. The clean up kits contain bleach, rags and other cleaning supplies.

To date, the Red Cross estimates at least 150 homes were affected by this storm in Davidson County.