Cross Blog

Category: Disaster

Volunteers enjoy Emergency Services Day at Carowinds

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Photos courtesy of Red Cross volunteer Darren Mulholland and the Charlotte Fire Department

The American Red Cross participated in the Emergency Services Day at Carowinds on Saturday, Aug. 20, at Carowinds. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Charlotte Fire Department were also on-scene to help the Red Cross deliver severe weather safety tips and information.

First responders participated in a “celebrity” ride of The Cyclone, a roller coaster that celebrated its 30th anniversary that weekend.

Laura Crouse, from Charlotte, shared her harrowing experience with severe weather. She told the crowd of how high winds damaged the home where she and her husband and their five children live, and the Red Cross was there to help.

The Charlotte Fire Department recognized the Red Cross, among other responders, for the work they do in the community to help those affected by disasters.

Red Cross volunteer Pamela Brynarsky provided great severe weather tips and encouraged the community to have a plan and to be prepared in the event of inclement weather.

Red Cross volunteer Darren Mulholland had the Red Cross Emergency Communications Response Vehicle (ECRV) at the park.

“There’s nothing like driving the ECRV through Carowinds!” he said.

Click here for more pictures from the event.

How did Katrina affect you?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

This week marks five years since Hurricane Katrina crashed into our collective lives.

Refugees from Hurricane Katrina sleep in the former Charlotte Coliseum.

View our latest press release including a five-year report and how our chapter assisted refugees of Katrina.

We’ve set up a page on our website that showcases the American Red Cross’s impact on survivors of the storm and we encourage you to watch the videos and read our report.

Storms and fires keep Iredell County volunteers busy

Friday, August 06, 2010

On Thursday, American Red Cross volunteers were called to four separate incidents between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m.

The initial call was to a tree falling on a house on Spicewood Circle in Troutman. As Emergency Services volunteers headed to that scene, another call came in from a working house fire in the Cool Springs area. Two volunteers quickly headed to the scene of that emergency.

When volunteers arrived at the Troutman tree falling, county emergency management was on the scene and requested the Red Cross to go to a four-unit apartment fire on Stockton Street in Statesville and to another house fire on Knoxview Lane in Mt. Mourne.

Therefore, an additional two volunteer teams were dispatched - and all were on site and working with the clients as needed by 6:15 p.m.!

The Red Cross ended up assisting four families with assistance for food and shelter. The work done Thursday night in Iredell County is a testament to the dedication of our Red Cross volunteers!

Volunteers help 150 people beat the heat

Monday, July 26, 2010

The American Red Cross, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management Office and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools opened a cooling station over the weekend as the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the Charlotte metropolitan area. Nearly 150 people sought cooler temperatures at First Ward Elementary, where Red Cross volunteers provided cold drinks and snacks.

Heat safety tips

Red Cross volunteers respond to two-alarm fire

Friday, July 23, 2010

MEDIA ADVISORY

Volunteers from the Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross responded to a two-alarm condominium fire on Kilborne Drive in Charlotte this morning. Three units were affected.

Red Cross disaster action team volunteers provided three families with assistance for food, shelter, clothing and other immediate needs. The Red Cross will continue to work with these families on a case-by-case basis.

Red Cross volunteers also provided drinks and snacks for the Charlotte Fire Department and other first responders on the scene of the fire.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is provided at no cost to our clients. You can help victims of disasters like this fire by making a contribution to the Red Cross. 

Raising money with the Flower Fun Store!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Year after year, the Red Cross supports our community. Year after year, Irma Boyd supports the Red Cross. 

This year marked the 19th Anniversary of Mrs. Boyd’s Flower Fun Store fundraiser at Myers Park Elementary School for the Red Cross. Inspired by her personal experience with the Red Cross in the 1970s when an earthquake displaced her family, Mrs. Boyd and her kindergarten class design and sell paper flowers with proceeds going to the Red Cross.

The fundraiser taught the students about the basics of running a business and in the process, they learned about the basics of helping protect their community by supporting the Red Cross. The students heard firsthand from Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteers about how their money will help support families who lose their homes to disaster. 

More than $1,000 was raised for the Red Cross, and DAT volunteer Jim Privie presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the class as the students enjoyed, appropriately enough, Lifesaver candies marked with “You are a life saver” on the wrapper.

As the students took turns wearing official Red Cross volunteer vests, it wasn’t hard to imagine them growing into those uniforms and filling the role of a key Red Cross volunteer in the near future.

Mrs. Boyd is not only an inspiration for the Red Cross, she is an inspiration for these hard-working kindergartners who are already helping serve the Red Cross mission of helping prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Volunteers respond to three-alarm fire

Monday, July 12, 2010

At 5:42 a.m. on Saturday, July 10, 62 firefighters from the Charlotte Fire Department responded to reports of a fire at the Devonshire Court Condominiums at 8124 Termaine Court in East Charlotte.

Ten Red Cross volunteers were quickly on the scene to provide snacks and drinks for the firefighters and other first responders. The Red Cross also met with the families displaced by the fire to provide assistance for basic needs as well as provide comfort.

Eight apartment units were affected; of those, six were occupied. The Red Cross provided assistance for food, clothing and shelter for the families in need.

“The building was pretty much destroyed,” said Red Cross volunteer Gene Judd.

Want to help victims of disasters such as this fire? Click here or call 704.347.8352.

Check out the video from News 14

Disaster Diaries Part Five: The faces of the West Virginia floods

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

American Red Cross volunteers and staff have been working to distribute cleaning supplies, food and water to those affected by the floods. Jim Sheely, a volunteer from Charlotte, N.C., describes his deployment and the Red Cross’ efforts in West Virginia in part three of his disaster diaries:

Monday, July 5

Well, this operation officially concluded Saturday, July 3. I’ll be home soon and looking forward to it.

The long, long Fourth of July weekend has kept George Barron, the Logistics Administrator, and Lance and I here for two days longer than ordinarily.  Everything was closed Sunday and today so we will spend tomorrow morning, Tuesday, delivering a huge load of Pelican cases of DST laptops, cell phones, cables, and the satellite dish to FedEx shipping. Then we have to deliver the Chapter a load of leftover office supplies, forms, brochures, snacks, ice chests, and all the other “stuff” that winds up in headquarters after 2 and a half weeks of operations.  Then, after we return the two trucks, I can “beat feet” to the airport, return my car and hop my flight to Atlanta.

I have been here 18 days and have not seen a victim of the flooding, a home damaged by floods, or been in any of the affected communities. Other volunteers carried the Red Cross “flag” in all those areas. Those were the faces the clients saw and will remember; those are the volunteers that make or break the Red Cross’ reputation in disasters. But we (volunteers in Logistics) gave the volunteers their offices, shelters, cars, computers, phones, clean-up kits, comfort kits, clipboards, snacks, soap, toilet paper, and everything else they needed and assume will be there when they arrive on the job. Logistics arrives first and, as I can verify, leaves last. I feel like a fraud when I tell people I’ve been in West Virginia helping people who lost homes and property in floods.  But I will come home and gladly preach the gospel of Logistics to the “empathy impaired” and let them know that none of the other activities can get their work done without Logistics doing theirs first. The glamour is missing but not the importance.

George and I had little to do today except fold tables and chairs so we sat a talked a while.  I got more insights into the ‘bigger picture’ and how he finds and acquires the facilities a relief operation needs.  There have been a lot of changes made at the national level in the last few weeks and we in the “Man Cave” will have a lot to learn and talk about. I look forward to being rid of Disaster Services Technology and Invoice Review, and handing over the Emergency Communications Response Vehicle (ECRV) to fellow volunteer Pam Brynarsky. Speaking of ECRVs: The last word I had on 4703, the Manassas truck, is that they found the money and the justification to have it repaired and returned to service. I’ll bet that takes at least a month to accomplish.  I was worried that they’d replace 4703 with our truck, 4715, to have a showpiece for HQ events. I think we may have dodged a bullet!

See ya’ll when I get back!

Jim

Disaster Diaries Part Four: Winding down

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Wednesday, June 30

Hot Flash from DR 112-10:

The Emergency Communications Response Vehicle (ECRV) 4703, based in Manassas, Va., and the oldest of the ECRVs, is to be scrapped after it is stripped of its equipment. The mechanical diagnosis is that it needs a new engine and transmission and it has been decided that the investment would not be cost effective. A team will be dispatched to Chapmanville in a box truck with the tools to remove all the radios, dish, mast, consoles, etc and then sell the body for parts or junk. This unexpected loss might mean more activity for the Charlotte ECRV. Updates as they occur…

We are in wind-down mode here in South Charleston headquarters. We are sending caseworkers home daily. Yesterday we picked up 47 cots, of 75 delivered, at the staff shelter at Logan High School. Today we got about 18 more. They expect to close by Friday when we will go back and clear out everything that’s left.

We picked up and returned to US Food in Hurricane, W.Va., about 1,200 pounds of canned food items that the kitchen won’t need.  The kitchen is closing after they cook lunch for the ERVs to deliver tomorrow (Thursday).  Hopefully the facility can be inspected tomorrow afternoon and officially closed.  A staff of about 8 volunteers prepared, and the ERVs delivered, about 1,100 meals a day for 13 days from a 16’x16’ kitchen in a small Baptist Church.  The ERVs look like they have been mud racing.

Headquarters will effectively close Saturday.  MSS and DST will remain to wrap up bill paying and accounting for all the non-expendable “stuff” we have borrowed or bought.  The rented tables, chairs, and copier will be retrieved by vendors on Monday.  DST has to wait until we are finished with the laptops before they can disassemble the VSAT (satellite dish) and pack it for shipping.  They will use the box truck it is sitting on top of to carry all their boxes of equipment to FedEx for shipment to the Austin, TX, Disaster Services Center.

Word is, I will be released on Tuesday or Wednesday.  It seems that Fourth of July is an especially big holiday here and everything but the Kanawah River shuts down for a looong weekend.  I’ve heard it referred to as a ‘miner’s holiday” but I don’t know what that implies.  AND, the President, VP, and entourage will come to town Friday for Sen. Byrd’s State Funeral.  I haven’t heard if we will get any time off or not over the weekend.  It isn’t clear what we can accomplish but everyone wants to finish up as quickly as we can.

Disaster Diaries Part Three

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

American Red Cross volunteers and staff have been working to distribute cleaning supplies, food and water to those affected by the floods. Jim Sheely, a volunteer from Charlotte, N.C., describes his deployment and the Red Cross’ efforts in West Virginia in part three of his disaster diaries:

Saturday, June 26
“Hello” from Wild, Wonderful West Virginia,

There was a tornado in Weston, W.Va., Thursday evening, and that disaster has been added to our operation. My co-worker, Lance Bennink, from Athens, Ohio, drove a truck loaded with cleanup supplies up there on Friday.  Weston is on I-79 about 1½ hours from here.  I haven’t heard if we’ll send caseworkers or anyone else up there. We’re still getting caseworkers reporting in, and I think we’re still doing casework. 

Today was a slow day but didn’t end until about 6 p.m. Right now I’m watching Carolina vs. Clemson in the College World Series playoffs. Tied 1-1 bottom of the 3rd.

Carolina won 4-3 and will play UCLA Monday in the best-of-3 finals.

Monday, June 28
Slow days Sunday and today. We are still doing casework and feeding, but one of the three Emergency Response Vehicles went home today and another went into the shop for a leaky transmission.  Two or three caseworkers went home today and more will leave tomorrow.  They are to wrap up by Thursday and we will then clean, clear and close the Staff Shelter at the high school Friday. If all goes by plan, I may travel home around July 7.  We (Logistics volunteers) will be the last ones out.

The Logistics Administrator here is George Barron from Huntsville, Ala. George joined the Army the year after I was born and retired 24 years later after spending much of his later years in logistics and facilities. He’s brought that experience to Red Cross disaster, and I’ve learned a lot from him in a short time.  I hope I get to work with him again. 

West Virginia has flags at half-staff in honor of Senator Byrd, and I suppose they will place his body in the State Capitol and follow with a big funeral.  Probably declare a state holiday, too.  I don’t know yet if we’ll work on the Fourth.  It might depend on what we can get done if everyone else is closed up.  I’d rather work if it’ll get us home a day earlier.

Jim