News – Page 5 – Gold Country News and Notes

3 Reasons and 4 Ways to #Help1Family on Red Cross Giving Day

GD16_AmbassadorRecruitment_Twitter

Nearly every eight minutes, the American Red Cross extends a helping hand to a family in need that has lost everything – the roof over their heads, their clothes, their most cherished possessions – to a home fire.

The Red Cross Northeastern California Chapter has been busy helping those affected in and around 13 northeastern counties from Sutter and Colusa to the Oregon Border, but we need your help on one special day to continue to provide the emergency services that your neighbors depend on.

On April 21, you have a chance to help families in need whenever and wherever they need it by participating in the Red Cross’ Giving Day to #help1family. A donation of just $88.50 can provide a family with a day’s worth of food, plus blankets and other essentials.

We are proud of the work we accomplished to help people in Northeastern California last year:

Installing 424 smoke alarms in the community
Providing 380 overnight stays to families in need
Serving 24,000 meals and snacks to people affected by disasters

Spread the word about Red Cross Giving Day – the more people who support Giving day means we can help even more. Use your social media channels to reach out to friends and family and ask them to donate to #help1family by visiting redcross.org/giving day.

Here are four ways your donation will #help1family:

Supporting a family in urgent need: provide funding to give them a day’s worth of food, blankets, and other essentials.
Supplying warm meals: help provide hearty, comforting meals to those impacted by disasters.
Providing clean-up kits after a disaster strikes: make clean-up kits available for families in need that include vital items like a mop, bucket, and disinfectant.
Deploying an emergency response vehicle for a day: Red Cross workers travel to impacted neighborhoods in fully stocked Emergency Response vehicles to provide food, water and critical relief.

Imagine the impact that we could have on our community if everyone wanted to #help1family.

Pizza Guys Joins Red Cross Giving Day

NatVolunteerWeek_WebMain

Who is hungry for some pizza?!

We are excited to announce that Pizza Guys is kicking off a Red Cross Giving Day Campaign tomorrow! The campaign begins on Friday, April 15 and runs through Red Cross Giving Day on April 21.

Giving-Day-Eblast Pizza Guys has 61 stores participating in the campaign located throughout Northern and Central California, as well as Oregon and Nevada. Throughout the campaign, Pizza Guys employees will as
k customers if they would like to make a donation to the Red Cross at the register. Customers will also have the opportunity to donate to the Red Cross through the Pizza Guys website.

The best part is that on Giving Day, 50% of online Large and X-Large pizza sales on pizzaguys.com will be donated to the Red Cross when customers use coupon code: REDCROSS at checkout.

Please help us spread the word! Encourage family, friends and colleagues to get a Pizza Guys this week and on Giving Day.

For more information, please contact Chelsea.Fahr@redcross.org.

Gary Strong: A salute to hundreds of Red Cross volunteers during their week

thank-you-vols
The American Red Cross Gold Country Region is honoring its volunteers and the work they do in the community during National Volunteer Week, April 10-17.

Last year, our volunteers helped 739 local families who faced home fires and other disaster situations. They trained 43,250 people in lifesaving skills and assisted 1,132 military members, veterans and their families. Volunteers also went door-to-door in neighborhoods at high risk for home fires to install more than 2,500 smoke alarms and teach people about home fire safety.

We invite the public to join us and become a Red Cross volunteer. Go to redcross.org/goldcountry to learn more about the many ways people can help and how to submit a volunteer application.

We want to extend our sincerest thanks to the 2,700 local Red Cross volunteers who help us fulfill our mission here in the Gold Country Region which serves more than 4.4 million people across 24 counties. The support of our volunteers allows us to help people when they need it most.

Sincerely,

Gary Strong
CEO
American Red Cross
Gold Country Region

Gold Country Region Disaster Responders Help Flooding Victims in South

April 1, 2016, Sacramento (CA) – As we begin April, it’s been a little over 3 weeks since torrential rains hammered Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas relentlessly for a week causing horrific flooding and breaking records that have stood since the late 1800s. So severe was the flooding that some areas have only become accessible in the last few days, which means we’re still sheltering evacuees and conducting damage assessments on the first day of April for storms that began in the first full week of March—that’s highly unusual, to say the least.

Notwithstanding two Presidential disaster declarations, the national media paid little attention to these disasters and have long since moved on, so you might think there’s not much of a story here. But there is. As best we can tell as of last night, these storms and floods destroyed or caused major damage to 9,208 homes in 3 States. Imagine how just one family might struggle if they were barely getting by before these storms only to have their home destroyed by a massive flood. Now, multiply that by 9,000.

Gold Country Region disaster responders are currently providing disaster relief and recovery assistance in the hardest hit areas of those states.

The volunteers and staff members, who live in cities throughout Northern California, have been assigned to work for a two-week period in a variety of roles helping disaster victims. The Red Cross has opened 89 shelters which supported 6,586 overnight stays, served nearly 305,000 meals and snacks, and distributed 124,439 relief items including comfort kits and cleaning supplies.

Thank you to the following responders who have traveled across the country to help those who have lost so much:

Frederick Aw
Darren Courtney
Pat Day
Elizabeth English
Dana Epstein
Kathleen Griffith
Bob Grosch
Terri Hartner
Kevin Hedahl
Rose Marie Laraby
Al Lee
Dennis Lewis
Kathy Massar
Lau Miller
Jeremiah Norrell
Kathy Pascoe
Jim Piper
Colleen Ranalli
Michael Reeves
Colleen Turay
Bill Waits
Paula Watts-White
Kevin West
Richard Yoder
Christine Yoo

“The Red Cross response is just beginning,” said Gary Strong, CEO, Red Cross Gold Country Region. “Our volunteers will continue to provide help and hope to those people who are recovering from this disaster.”

The Red Cross depends on the continued support of the public to help people affected by this disaster and other emergencies big and small. Those who would like to help people affected by disasters like flooding and countless other crises can make a donation to Red Cross Disaster Relief. People can donate by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. These donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Six Month Update on Recovery for the Butte Wildfire

As you know, our friends and neighbors in Amador and Calaveras counties endured a relentless series of devastating wildfires this past summer. Today, our work continues, where Red Cross staff and volunteers continue to collaborate to ensure residents have the extra assistance they need to rebuild, not just as individuals but as a whole community, too.

Click HERE to read a six-month Stewardship Report that provides a first-hand look at your generously donated dollars at work, detailing our continued support and recovery efforts in the community.

Thank you for your support and commitment to help those affected by these wildfires. Your generosity makes the hope of recovery possible at a time when people need it the most.

Sincerely,
Gary Strong, CEO American Red Cross Gold Country Region

Below is a video that resumes our work over the last six months.

Test smoke alarms when turning clocks ahead for Daylight Saving

2016DaylightSavingsWeb

Red Cross Home Fire Campaign Saves Dozens of Lives;
Installs Quarter of a Million Smoke Alarms Across U.S.

Woodland, CA Wednesday, March 9, 2016 — The American Red Cross and thousands of Home Fire Campaign partners have helped save at least 77 lives and installed more than a quarter of a million smoke alarms in homes all across the country since the campaign launched in October of 2014.

Here in the Gold Country Region, Red Cross workers and partners have canvased 4,792 homes, Installed 2,029 smoke detectors and helped families create 1,314 fire escape plans. This weekend, we will canvass homes in Woodland and Roseville.

“Every day seven people die in a home fire somewhere in the United States. Working with our partners, we are changing that by making people safer with each new smoke alarm we install,” said Robin Friedman Regional Disaster Officer. “The campaign has already helped to save the lives of dozens of people and we know that number will only grow as more alarms are installed and more people take action to prevent home fires.”

Home Fire Campaign supporters and partners here in the Gold Country Region include the following, Pacific Gas and Electric, Oracle, ServPro as well as local and city fire departments.

TURN AND TEST

Daylight Saving Time occurs at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning, March 13, and the Red Cross reminds everyone to TURN AND TEST – turn their clocks ahead one hour and test their smoke alarms. If someone’s home is lacking smoke alarms, residents should install smoke alarms on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. The alarms should be tested every month and the batteries replaced at least once a year, or according to the alarm manufacturer’s instructions.

Every household should develop a fire escape plan and practice it several times a year and at different times of the day. The plan should include two ways to get out of every room and a place to meet outside. Consider escape ladders for sleeping areas or homes with two stories or more.

People can visit redcross.org/GoldCountry to find out more about how to protect themselves and their loved ones from fire or learn about the location of local smoke alarm installation events. They can also help by volunteering their time or making a donation today to Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS.

Download your own copies of:

Home Fire Safety checklist https://p.widencdn.net/g6knqh
Escape plan https://p.widencdn.net/nv9r1j

Check out the Home Fire Campaign Video from the large canvassing event in December.’

Donor Spotlight – McDonald’s Mother Lode Bringing out the pies to help families of the Butte Fire.

It has been a little over five months since the Butte Fire ravaged through the hills and neighborhoods of Calaveras and Amador counties. While those communities continue their recovery process, community members and businesses like McDonalds in the Mother Lode are still gathering the donations they received from their customers.

When the fire erupted that September 9 last year, Dennis Graspointner, McDonald’s owner/operator of the store in the Mother Lode called his local Red Cross to offer support.

He gathered his team of employees and his supervisor Ron Richards to come up with a unique fundraiser to assist those affected by the wildfire.

ButteFire_McDonalds — Mc Donald’s Mother Lode Team – Owner/operator Dennis Graspointer is in the middle and supervisor Ron Richards is to the far right.

They thought… “What is America’s favorite thing?” The All American Apple Pie, of course! Therefore, they kicked off a campaign where all proceeds from the purchase of pies would benefit the fire victims of the California Wildfires.

As soon as the campaign began, it was a hit in the community.

“Customers came by just for the pies, to help their friends and neighbors who had been evacuated,” says Dennis Graspointer.

Five months later, Liza Cruz, one of our major gift officers went by the store to say hello and to find out how the drive was going. “When I arrived the employees were so happy to have Red Cross there,” smiles Liza. “I was honored to be with such compassionate people.”

The pie sales raised more than $6000 dollars!

“McDonald’s is proud to be able to help, we benefited from the generosity of the customers, and they bought large quantities of pies, so thank you!” exclaimed Dennis.

The American Red Cross was able to help residents in Amador and Calaveras affected by the Butte Fire. Thanks to your generous support, we were able to:

Open 5 shelters providing over 1,750 overnight stays;
Serve more than 33, 000 meals and snacks;
Hand out 23,500 relief items, like comfort kits and clean up kits containing shovels, gloves and more;
And open 430 cases to provide one-on-one support to residents.

But, that’s not all; we continue to be in Calaveras and Amador counties to offer assistance to those affected by the fire with the recovery team “Calaveras Recovers.”

Home Fire Campaign – Reaching Secluded Areas

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This past Saturday, February 6, 2016, Red Cross volunteers gathered around to knock on doors and help save lives at the Columbia Sky Mobile Home Park in Tuolumne County.

Together with the Tuolumne Fire Department about a dozen volunteers met on the brisk Saturday morning to participate in the first Home Fire Campaign canvassing event in that county.

The day could not have been better, even the deer were out to greet the volunteers and the Columbia mobile home park residents were friendly and receptive.

“All of the volunteers really enjoyed visiting with the seniors,” said Debbie Calcotte, Disaster Program Manager with the American Red Cross Gold Country Region.

In all, volunteers visited 39 homes and installed 51 smoke alarms.

“This was a great kick-off canvassing event for Tuolumne County,” said Lilly Wyatt, Communications Director. “But, we would not have been able to get in to talk to so many individuals and families if it wasn’t for the partnership and collaboration of the Tuolumne Fire Department.”

Anyone is encouraged to sign up and volunteer for future canvassing events across the 24-county Gold Country region of the American Red Cross. Training is provided.

“Today’s event was encouraging,” added JoLynn Miller, Red Cross volunteer. “We heard stories from the people we were visiting on how they actually support the Red Cross with donations and how grateful they were to the teams for being there today.”

The young fire cadets we’re also thrilled to talk to the community about how important fire safety was and help them with fire escape plans and routes.

Data shows that the 4% of homes without smoke alarms represent nearly 40% of the home fires, and that working smoke alarms can double someone’s chance of surviving a fire. That’s why, the American Red Cross is continuing the multi-year Home Fire Campaign, which aims to reduce home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent by the end of 2019.

Installation teams have three goals:
- Testing and installing smoke alarms and/or replacing batteries (as needed);
- Educating the resident on fire safety and safety from other types of locally relevant disasters; and
- Documenting installation information, including the services provided.

The Red Cross also is asking every household in America to join us in taking the two simple steps that can save lives: checking their existing smoke alarms and practicing fire drills at home.

We are in Sonora next Saturday.

Check our our Home Fire Campaign Album on Flickr with images from some of the canvassing events we’ve participated in. 🙂

Think The Red Cross Only Responds To Natural Disasters? Think Again!

When you hear the words, “Red Cross”, your first thoughts may be: natural disasters, blood drives or perhaps a literal red cross! To be fair, it is understandable why these would be the first things to pop into your mind as the Red Cross is exceptional at responding to and aiding natural disaster victims, organizing blood drives and being there for our community as a whole. But what is not widely known, however, is that the Red Cross cares even more deeply about our community than we originally believed and as such, respond to a wide range of incidents – not just natural disasters! Whodathunkit?

After receiving a dispatch call to Carmichael, CA, William Brittain, the Team Lead of a Disaster Action Team, immediately called the Battalion Chief in that area and was briefed on the call. The Battalion Chief indicated his concern over the lack of heat in the client’s residence and William, after learning this call was now 7 days old, told the chief there might not be much that the team could provide this person. Yet he did tell the Battalion Chief that he would be more than happy to meet and speak with the client in person to see if there was anything else the team could assist her with.

Upon arrival at the client’s residence, the Team quickly learned from the client that her gas service had been restored and she now had heat. She resides on the same property as the residence that had burned on the night of a fire. Fortunately, her residence was spared from the fire and there was neither smoke nor water damage within her home. However on the night of the fire, her utilities had been turned off.

Although the client’s gas had been restored by the time the Team had met with her, her electricity had not. In the meantime, her community had provided her with battery powered electric lighting, her son had provided her with a barbecue and she was keeping her food cold in a cooler with ice. The client had shelter, heat, food: the means to cook it and keep it fresh, water and clothing. Thankfully all of her emergency needs were met.

The Team then spoke with her landlord who was on scene and he told them that his tenant would be able to continue to live in her residence and that electrical service should be back on soon. Before leaving, the Team gave the client a street sheet and a 211 card and both the client and landlord thanked them profusely for coming out. William Brittain, Team Lead, then followed up with the Battalion Chief, informing him that the client had heat – and the Chief, in turn, expressed gratitude that the Team had gone to visit with the resident.

This is only one of the many different incidents the Red Cross responds to. And the Red Cross is ready and available if you need them. They are here for our community. They are a part of our community. =)