donate – Gold Country News and Notes

Trailhead Fire Update: Two Evacuation Shelters available for Trailhead Fire evacuees

Auburn, Calif., June 30, 2016 — The American Red Cross in partnership with El Dorado and Placer counties Office of Emergency Services have established two evacuation shelters for residents who have been affected by the growing Trailhead Fire.

Placer County Evacuation Center:

Gold Country Fair Grounds – Sierra Building

1273 High St, Auburn, CA 95603

There are two shelters available to provide a secure place to stay for both evacuees and their pets.

The shelters are separated due to the health and safety of our shelter guests. Red Cross is providing shelter, food, snacks, water and emotional support.

El Dorado County Evacuation Center:

Golden Sierra High School

5101 Garden Valley Road, Garden Valley, CA

This shelter is being staffed by Red Cross volunteers and managed by the El Dorado County Health and Human Services. The County is also providing a small animal pet shelter at this location. All large animals need to be transported to 1100 Cold Springs Road, where El Dorado County Animal Services has arranged for accommodations.

The Red Cross is not providing hotel vouchers for evacuated residents, however, we’re encouraging everyone to find comfort at one of our shelters where they can find a safe place to lay down, blankets, food, water and snacks.

Disasters like this create more needs than any one organization can meet. The Red Cross works closely with government and community partners to coordinate efforts.

A public meeting will be held tonight. Fire staff will give an informational update and answer questions from the public. American Red Cross will be present as well.

Trailhead Fire Public Meeting:

Thursday, June 30, 2016

7:00pm

Golden Sierra High School

5101 Garden Valley Road, Garden Valley

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.

The Gold Country Region serves a twenty-four county territory including Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba counties.

For more information, please visit redcross.org/GoldCountry or cruzrojaamericana.org. Stay up to date by following us on Twitter (@RCSierraDelta | @RedCrossNECal) or join the conversation on Facebook’s Sierra-Delta Chapter Page or Northeastern California Page.

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

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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

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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.

Parents’ Gratitude for Blood Donors Highlights Summer Need

The American Red Cross has recently been in extra need of blood donors; the impact of blood donors has always proved instrumental in saving lives. As blood donations continue to decline this summer, the American Red Cross asks eligible donors to remember patients who are counting on the generosity of volunteers to roll up a sleeve and give. Without lifesaving blood, patients like 3-year-old Emily Stephenson wouldn’t be alive to share their stories.

Emily’s Story

Emily was only a few days old when her parents, Amy and Wayne Stephenson, learned she had a genetic blood disorder which causes severe anemia. To remain healthy, Emily will require blood transfusions every six to eight weeks until she is at least 10 years old. She’s already received blood more than 30 times.

“Blood donation is the bridge between life and death for Emily, but it is also so much more,” said Amy Stephenson. “It is learning to ride a bike, going to her first dance, earning a diploma and walking down an aisle someday.”

The Red Cross partnered with the Stephenson family in a special video to put a face on the importance of blood donation. In the video “Emily’s Story: A Letter from Mom and Dad,” the Stephensons want to express eternal gratitude for those who roll up a sleeve to help Emily live.

“The process of donation may appear to be filled with anonymity, but we see a name in every unit Emily receives during a transfusion,” said Amy Stephenson. “While we do not know the donor, we can see your heart and we appreciate you.”

Emily is one of many individuals who are in urgent need of blood; one donor can potentially save up to three lives from just one pint of blood.

The Red Cross has an urgent need for eligible blood donors with types O negative, B negative and A negative blood to give now to prevent an emergency situation. Type O negative is the universal blood type and can be transfused to patients with any blood type. Types A negative and B negative can be transfused to Rh positive or negative patients. Individuals with these blood types are urged to make and keep donation appointments as soon as possible to help replenish the blood supply.

Platelet donors and those with type AB blood are also continually needed to help ensure the shelves are stocked for patients in need. Platelets – a key clotting component of blood often needed by cancer patients, surgical patients and bone marrow recipients – must be transfused within five days of donation, so donations are always needed. Donors with type AB blood are urgently needed to restock the plasma supply. Type AB donors have the universal plasma type, which can be given to patients of all blood types.

Plasma is often needed for burn, trauma and clotting deficiency patients. Plasma can be collected during a blood or platelet donation.

Everyone is encouraged to give blood or platelets to help patients like Emily and replenish the blood supply. For more information or to schedule an appointment to donate blood, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org. Donors can also use the Red Cross Blood Donor App, which is free and available for download now. It can be found in app stores by searching for American Red Cross, visiting redcross.org/apps or redcrossblood.org/bloodapp, or by texting BLOODAPP to 90999 for a direct link to download.

If you would like to donate in the Gold Country Region, visit Delta Blood Bank for information of when and where to donate.

A Full Circle Moment

Thanks to Fox40 for sharing the work that we do at the American Red Cross and thanks to the Girl Scouts for putting extra love in making the kits.

We would like to share this special ‘full circle moment” that showcases how our work is impacting people every day.

Email from Jennifer Loncaric
Subject: What we do works.

“I thought you might like this. That’s a note my daughter wrote when she helped make comfort kits with Jasmine a few months ago. The girl holding it was also there helping that day. She is Trina’s (my co-leader) step-daughter. Their house was burnt early Sunday morning after a mortar hit the front porch. We don’t know how long they will be displaced, but the Red Cross visited them today with some help. It’s a beautiful thing to see the joy on her face from something so small in such a tragic time for her family. I am overwhelmed with emotion knowing my girls have had such a local and personal impact.”

Thanks to the kind efforts of local girl scout troops, many families struck by home fires have received useful Red Cross Comfort Kits during such a stressful time in their lives. Jasmine Su an HSS instructor and Girl Scout troop leader helped to create these kits through the help of her troops. Here is a picture of one of her troop members holding a very heartfelt message which was addressed to the family that suffered from the tragedy.

We take much pleasure in sharing this moment to demonstrate the positive support of these young ladies during times of stress.

Midwest Extreme Weather: The Red Cross Response

Motorists are stranded along I-45 along North Main in Houston after storms flooded the area, Tuesday, May 26, 2015. Overnight heavy rains caused flooding closing some portions of major highways in the Houston area. (Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle via AP)

The Red Cross is helping people in Texas and Oklahoma where devastating floods and tornadoes pounded the states over the weekend. More than 220 people spent their Memorial Day in Red Cross shelters in the two states. Governors in both states declared disasters in more than 80 counties after the extreme weather destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and left thousands without power.

In addition, Red Cross disaster mental health counselors are reaching out to recent victims on-the-ground in Texas. Read how counselors like Richard and Carolyn Newkirk use their specialized skills to counsel children and more in a new article.

All in One Day

All In One Day

All in one day, a home fire, a hurricane, or even a sudden accident can change a person’s life, leaving him or her feeling helpless. Thanks to generous donors, the Red Cross is able to respond, providing hope and lifesaving assistance when it is needed most.

Home Fires are the biggest disaster threat people face in this country. Every eight minutes, someone in the US the Red Cross responds to the home fire. Last year, the Gold Country Region alone responded to 645 local disasters.

Most of these disasters never make the news. That doesn’t mean these disasters are any less devastating to the families affected.

On June 2, 2015, the entire American Red Cross community will unite to launch our first nationwide Giving Day. Our goal is to inspire the single largest day ever of giving to the Red Cross outside of major disasters. Families, friends and coworkers across the nation will come together to sustain critical Red Cross support. All in one day, thousands of people will help ensure that survivors of disasters large and small, patients in need of blood, and military families will not face crises alone.

How can you help?

Make a Gift

When you make this gift, you go all in—providing aid to military families, ensuring a stable blood supply for our nation, saving children around the world from preventable diseases like measles, providing lifesaving trainings, and enabling the Red Cross to respond, on average, to a staggering 190 disasters each and every day. Your gift on or in advance of Giving Day will help ensure the Red Cross is there for years to come.

SET IT AND FORGET IT

For those who like to plan ahead (or are worried you’ll forget come June 2), we set up a Giving Day donation option just for you!

Now through June 1, you can simply visit the Giving Day website, enter your information, and your donation will be processed on June 2 along with all other Giving Day donations.

This method frees up your time on June 2 so you don’t miss out on being a part of Giving Day activities in your community.

HOW WILL I MAKE AN IMPACT ON GIVING DAY?

One day can change a person’s life in a way they didn’t expect, in a way that left them feeling helpless. Your support allows the Red Cross to be there so people in need can get back on their feet.

People like Pablo in Calaveras, who overcame a tragic house fire; “The Red Cross gave me hope. They showed me the best in people.”

Or Denise, a client from the Boles Fire in Weed: “When you give even a little from the heart, it means the world to someone who has lost so much.”

Thanks to generous people like you, the Red Cross is able to respond to emergencies and provide life-saving training.

HOW ELSE CAN I HELP?

You can also sign up to be a Giving Day Social Ambassador. We’ll provide a toolkit with easily customizable, click and paste social posts and images for you to use. It’s easy to sign up – go to https://givingday.redcross.org/#ambassadors

Thank you for helping to bring more good days! #allin1day

On June 2, let’s go “all in” and make this day count. Schedule your donation today for Giving Day at redcross.org/givingday. You can also help build awareness by using the hashtag #allin1day on Twitter and Facebook.

Big Day of Giving

Dear Friend,

On April 25 a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, and to date more than 5,000 people are confirmed to have died. The citizens of Nepal, the surrounding countries and over 300,000 tourists are sleeping in the streets as the aftershocks continue. The American Red Cross is actively assisting the Nepal Red Cross with personnel, emergency supplies and cash.

On Wednesday, April 29, the Gold Country Region held a 15-hour telethon hosted by KCRA and raised nearly $500,000 to support this effort! Whenever the need has arisen, Gold Country donors have consistently stepped forward to help those who have lost everything, and we are incredibly grateful for that support!

You may have heard that on Tuesday, May 5 the nonprofit organizations in the greater Sacramento area will participate in “The Big Day of Giving” and hope to raise $5,000,000 for the people in our community. While the support for Nepal was awe-inspiring, the truth is that the need here at home is just as significant. Red Cross volunteers respond to a local home fire or other disaster EVERY 11 HOURS.

The people we help tell us that even though we are known for large disasters, to anyone who loses their home it doesn’t matter how widespread the disaster is. What matters is that when everything is lost, the Red Cross is there to provide food, shelter, medical support and comfort. We are able to do this solely thanks to the generosity of our donors.

When the Big Day of Giving comes to town next Tuesday, we hope you will be able to support the Red Cross once again. The next fire we are called to could be in your town, your neighborhood – it could be your own home. If you

supported the people of Nepal on the 29th, we thank you and ask that you consider giving again to help your neighbors as generlously as you helped a stranger. If you cannot we ask that you forward this email to friends who may still be looking for the right charity to support on May 5.

Thank you,

Kathleen Weis, CEO
American Red Cross Gold Country Region

What it Means to Give Back as a Red Cross Volunteer and Staff Member

Written by Debbie Calcote, Disaster Program Manager (Tuolumne & Stanislaus Counties), Red Cross Capital Region

Debbie Calcote (R) provides direction for Red Cross volunteers during a recent fire safety canvassing event in Turlock, CA.

In 2005, like many other people, I was devastated by what I was seeing in the media about Hurricane Katrina. The sadness and total devastation of so many things and people was almost more than I could bear.

My heart went out to all impacted by this rage of Mother Nature. I needed to do something only I was caring for my disabled husband and couldn’t leave the area. So I went to the local Red Cross office and offered to help in any way. Continue reading What it Means to Give Back as a Red Cross Volunteer and Staff Member