American Red Cross, Greater Carolinas Chapter

Cross Blog

Have a safe holiday

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The American Red Cross knows how important having a plan is to your safety. That’s why this holiday season, we’re teaming up with Ydrive to prevent drinking and driving.
Before you go to a holiday party or New Year’s Eve party, make sure you know how you’re getting home safely. Ydrive will not only pick you up, but they’ll get you home in your own car.
When you buy a $50 gift card for Ydrive, not only are you giving the gift of safety, but you’ll also benefit the American Red Cross, Greater Carolinas Chapter. For every gift card sold, Ydrive will give $10 back to the chapter.
Find out how you can stay safe this year—buy a gift card to Ydrive.

A bash for turkeys!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The 2008 Red Hot Turkey Bash “rocked,” according to Keri Crews. Crews attended the Nov. 25 bash at the Wachovia Atrium with a group of friends. “This night has been really, really fun — it’s a great group of people and the place looks awesome!”
Club Red, the young professionals affiliate of the American Red Cross, hosted an evening of dancing and socializing for more than 1,000 people the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The annual event is a fundraiser for the Greater Carolinas Chapter.
“This is a good way for our chapter to raise awareness of the Red Cross while encouraging people to cut loose before the holiday,” said Pamela Jefsen, CEO of the Greater Carolinas Chapter.
One highlight of the evening was the drawing for the 50/50 raffle Club Red organized. The pot hit $1,500 just before 10 p.m.
Joe Tedesco, vice president of Club Red, pulled the lucky winner, who received $750.
“I want to give $500 back to the Red Cross,” said Tom Piazza as he accepted his prize. He noted that the money is for a good cause and he was happy to help.
The band Liquid Pleasure played all night, encouraging party-goers to do the “Electric Slide” and dance on stage to the Village People’s “YMCA.”
“We are happy with the turnout, and we’re happy people are having a good time,” said Kate Meier, communications and marketing director for the Greater Carolinas Chapter. “We hope everyone comes back next year!”
View pictures of this event.

Get involved with your Red Cross

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

As the holiday season approaches, there are many of us looking for ways we can help others during this time of giving.
The Greater Carolinas Chapter has a variety of ways you can help others in our community: you can give your time, blood or money.
Any donation you make directly helps your neighbors.
Volunteer
The Greater Carolinas Chapter, like every other branch of the American Red Cross, relies heavily on its volunteers. In fact, volunteers at this chapter outnumber staff by a ratio of almost 30 to one. That means our mission is largely carried out by people right here in our community.
To find out how you can be a part of the Red Cross, visit our volunteer information section.
Give Blood
The Carolinas Blood Services Region collects blood on a daily basis, which is provided to hospitals. Each pint of blood collected can be used to save up to three lives. Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. The overwhelming majority of people who need it would die without it. Healthy, generous donors are the only source of blood. Quite simply, there is no substitute for blood.
Blood is needed for emergencies, surgeries, and for people who have cancer, blood disorders, sickle cell anemia and other illnesses. Every donation makes a difference in someone’s life.
Find out how you can help save lives.
Make a donation
The American Red Cross does not receive government funding—we operate solely on the generous donations of people in our community. As good stewards of our donations, we ensure that money goes toward helping people right here in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties through one of our various programs.
When you make a donation to the Greater Carolinas Chapter, you are investing in your community.
You have the ability to change lives—start with your own.

Golf tournament a huge success!

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Greater Carolinas Chapter’s annual Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, Oct. 6, was a large success, bringing in about $20,000 for the chapter. A big thank you to the nearly 100 golfers who enjoyed a clear-skied morning and afternoon.

Highlighting the afternoon was an exciting $5,000 putt contest, won by golfer Richard Bates, who also came within just a few feet of winning the million-dollar shot!

For more pictures of the tournament, visit our photo gallery.

Staff members and more than 40 volunteers pitched in to ensure a smooth outing. Many thanks to co-chairmen Ken Carrick and Keith Butler, committee members Lee Leary, Guy Chamberlain and Jennifer Underwood. Also, many of the Greater Carolinas board members brought in teams and auction items:

Renee Brown - presenting golf sponsorship
Robert Gulliver - presenting golf sponsorship
Keith Butler – golf foursomes (4)
Ken Carrick – co-sponsorships for golf (2); Delano Little (golf emcee); hole-in-one car sponsorship
Guy Chamberlain – golf foursome (1); box lunches for golf
Cutter Davis – golf foursome (1)
Randall King – golf foursomes (2)
Tate Ogburn – golf foursome (1)
Gary Sullivan – golf foursome (1)
Chuck Melman – golf foursome (1)
Chuck Edwards – auction item

Thanks also to Mike Rash – for stewarding our sponsors and cheering on the winning putters!

Thanks to our sponsors: Wachovia Securities; Lance, Colemen, Lew & Associates; and Cherry, Bekeart & Holland. Also thanks to our many other supporters for help making the day a success.

Rick’s Blog

Monday, September 29, 2008

The FEMA base camp in Beaumont, TX is consolidating.  They began breaking down the 6 smaller tents today and moved us all in the large tent which sleeps 960.  There are about 200 people here now, mostly FEMA contractors.  Another base camp was set up in Orange, TX over the weekend.

This coming Saturday night, there will be a high school football game played near Port Arthur, just south of Beaumont.  This is the largest rivalry around, drawing an average of 25,000 spectators each year.  This year, these two schools will play on Saturday night, and then put their rivalry aside on Sunday to cross the bridge into hard hit Bridge City, TX.  These two schools will wear the Bridge City High School colors as a show of support, and join these communities in an effort to help clean the yards and households of Bridge City residents.

The American Red Cross, Orange County Chapter, working in coordination with the Beaumont Chapter, plans on sending several mobile feeding vehicles across the 4.5 mile long bridge from Port Arthur to Bridge City on Sunday to provide a mobile canteen for the community as they work on cleaning the city.  There is a good chance I’ll be reassigned to Houston before Sunday, so I’ll probably miss the event.  However, this is a great community effort as the Mayors and community leaders in Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Bridge City are all working together to help clean up one of the hardest hit areas in East Texas.  Stay tuned.

Rick’s Blog

Sunday, September 28, 2008

I took some pictures from my visit to Sabine Pass.  This is south of Beaumont outside Port Arthur.  I was riding around with Mike Odneal, who is the chapter exec for the Mid-Missouri chapter and is assigned as a Voluntary Agency Liaison to this response.  We were both taking pictures with our phones.

In other news, FEMA finally cranked up the heat in our tent last night.  This was the first night that we weren’t cocooning ourselves under the blankets.

I understand that there will be a 9am conference call tomorrow (Monday) regarding client assistance.  This should be interesting.  Film at 11:00

Rick’s Blog

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Howdy from Beaumont, TX:

Yes, I did get to stay in a hotel for the one night I stayed in Ft Worth.  However, the next day I drove to Beaumont to fill a management role in support of the local chapter.  I am now staying in a FEMA tent city.  It is a pretty good deal compared to the alternatives down here.  We were all given a laundry bag complete with sheets and a blanket, pillow and pillow case, and a towel.  There are 6 tents which sleep 180 each, and one big tent which sleeps 500.  It gets pretty chilly at night, so many people have asked for and received an extra blanket.

This area of Texas was hit pretty hard by Ike.  They are still serving more than 30,000 meals per day out of 3 kitchens and 5 feeding sites.  However, the meal counts are steadily decreasing.  There are no client shelters in this chapter’s jurisdiction.  I’m hoping to transition everything over to the chapter by the end of the weekend and get reassigned to another location.  Film at 11:00

Rick’s Blog

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Good Morning:

I was just told that I’m heading down to Beaumont later this morning to work with their chapter for the next few days.  Forward planning (as it stands now) has me going from Beaumont to the Houston/Galveston area this weekend or early next week.  I did sleep in a hotel room last night My roommate is a brand new volunteer from the Transylvania County, NC Chapter - cool guy.  He is working at HQ in staff support.  NC is well represented down here.

All staff meeting now.  Tootles.

Brunetta’s blog

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Greetings from Monroe, La!
I traveled to Monroe yesterday afternoon (4 hour drive) to work in Client Services. I am working from the Northeast Louisiana Chapter.
Today we conducted outreach visits to dwellings affected by Gustav. We encountered homes surrounded by several feet of water and in some cases fish were swimming within the water! They were washed in from the flooding.

The residents of Rayville (Monroe Parish) were happy to see a Red Cross vehicle & volunteers ready to provide assistance. We handed out bottles of water, food, diapers, formula, clean up kits, etc. In some cases financial assistance was provided. What seemed to be one of the most important items for the residents was “telling their story”. This served as therapy for the youngest to the oldest and hugs were not spared!
Wednesday we will travel another Parish (one of the hardest hit) and continue to spread Red Cross love!

Brunetta’s blog

Monday, September 08, 2008

Good morning!
I am officially in Baton Rouge as of yesterday afternoon. My assignment was finished when all general population shelters were closed. One of the most eventful things that took place was trying to locate two missing children (6 and 7 years old) within one of eleven general population shelters! Happily we found them unharmed & reunited them with a family member.
The destruction that was caused by Gustav is unbelievable! Massive trees uprooted & twisted, business signs blown off bldgs, homes destroyed, etc. It is amazing to see the efforts taking place to avoid looting ---barricades, armed guards in tanks, etc. There is also a 6 p.m. curfew for businesses.
I am currently at headquarters waiting for orientation, classes, and reassignment. Will send another update when I know where I will be for this last leg.
Missing everyone!