July 2013 – American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region

Regional Volunteer Award Winners Go Above and Beyond (Part 2)

Here’s part 2 in our 3 part series on our region’s 2013 volunteer award winners. This year’s winners are dedicated and inspiring supporting of the American Red Cross. Please join us in congratulating and thanking these wonderful people for their service.

patbovee

Pat Bovee – Volunteer of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Pat goes very quietly about making a difference every day in our community through her Red Cross work. She has been a valued member of the St. Croix Valley Chapter Board of Directors for the past 6 years and has championed the chapter’s fundraising efforts as Chair of the Philanthropy Committee and Chair of the Evening In Red Special event. This past year the Evening in Red raised nearly $70,000 for the Red Cross!

Terry Sluss – Volunteer of the Year: Disaster

Terry is a volunteer who continually goes above and beyond to serve the Red Cross and his community. He has worked hard to build a strong cohort of volunteers in the North Star Chapter, even hosting Disaster Action Team meetings in his home and skillfully mentoring new volunteers. In the past year, Terry responded to both the Duluth Floods and Superstorm Sandy, representing the Red Cross as a government liaison. He is a great spokesperson for the Red Cross and often assists with both volunteer recruitment and fundraising. Most recently, Terry was selected as the Deputy Chair for the Regional Disaster Leadership team, a role in which he can spread his expertise and leadership throughout the Northern Minnesota Region.

Charles Anderson – Volunteer of the Year: Health and Safety

Charles has been volunteering with the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team since its inception over 40 years ago. He continues to be a vital resource to team members and staff, and was particularly helpful during the staffing transition this past year. On countless occasions he has come into the office to assist with cleaning equipment, new member interviews, and a variety of other tasks. Charles is a strong advocate for team members and is always looking for ways to get others involved in new events or in new ways. He is a strong mentor for team members who are new to the field and to the Red Cross.

Interested in becoming a Red Cross volunteer? Now, there’s an app for that. Check our our new Team Red Cross app and get started today.

Regional Volunteer Award Winners Go Above and Beyond (Part 1)

Part 1 of 3

Red Cross volunteers are truly amazing. In order to give special recognition to those who continually go above and beyond, each year we undertake a thorough nomination process to select an elite group of volunteers to receive our Regional Volunteer Awards. This year’s winners are all dedicated, inspiring supporters of the Red Cross, and we’d like to introduce you to them through a series of three blog posts. Please join us in congratulating and thanking these wonderful volunteers!

Red Cross Distinguished Volunteer of the Year Karen Campion on deployment. — Red Cross Distinguished Volunteer Leader of the Year, Karen Campion, on deployment.

Karen Campion
Distinguished Volunteer Leader

Karen is a kind and compassionate leader who brings a wealth of skills to both the Twin Cities Area Chapter and the Northern Minnesota Region. In the past year she led Disaster Assessment teams during the Duluth flooding response, served as a Human Resources consultant and Staff Relations Lead within Emergency Services, and worked with the Regional Advisory Team to develop and implement the new disaster leadership structure. She is an instructor and also regularly deploys both locally and nationally; in the past year she and husband Rick served for two weeks as Emergency Response Vehicle drivers after Hurricane Isaac, and also assisted after the Northern Minnesota Wildfires.

Disaster Mental Health Team
Outstanding Volunteer Group

Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteer Leslie Hong accepts award on behalf of the regional team. From left to right - Phil Hansen, Regional CEO; Mark Capaldini, Board Chair; Leslie Hong and Josh Lockwood, Red Cross Regional CEO for Greater New York Area. — Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteer Leslie Hong accepts award on behalf of the regional team. From left to right – Phil Hansen, Regional CEO; Mark Capaldini, Board Chair; Leslie Hong and Josh Lockwood, Red Cross Regional CEO for Greater New York Area.

The Disaster Mental Health (DMH) group is a quiet pillar of support among disaster clients, volunteers, and staff across the region. Anytime there is a situation that requires emotional support – whether that is a fire, loss of a pet, loss of life, stress, or a need for comfort and resources – the DMH team is ready to serve at all hours of the day and night. Volunteers from this team are called out on every major national disaster. Within the region, the DMH team calls each volunteer when they return from deployment – which included over 130 calls during the Superstorm Sandy response. This group often goes unnoticed because their work is confidential, but for those who are served, they are truly invaluable.

Ellie Deans, Ian Deans, Hannah Holstein, Natalie St. Martin
St. Croix Valley Chapter Board Members – Youth Volunteer Leadership

St. Croix Valley Chapter Board Members and Youth Volunteer Leaders (from left to right) - Natalie St. Martin, Ellie Deans, Hannah Holsten, and Ian Deans. — St. Croix Valley Chapter Board Members and Youth Volunteer Leaders (from left to right) – Natalie St. Martin, Ellie Deans, Hannah Holsten, and Ian Deans.

Natalie, Ellie, Hannah and Ian serve on St. Croix Valley Chapter Board of Directors. They also support other service and program activities in our community as Red Cross volunteers. Their volunteer activities have included Holiday Mail for Heroes, driving the Emergency Response Vehicle, and assisting with fundraising events like the Evening in Red and FORE the Red Golf Tournament. These four young people are a wonderful example of youth involvement with the American Red Cross.

Interested in becoming a Red Cross volunteer? Now, there’s an app for that. Check our our new Team Red Cross app and get started today.

Red Lake Kids Get Red Cross Trained

Red Lake, MN, fifth-graders learn skills to save a choking victim during an American Red Cross Babysitter's Training class on June 20, 2013. — Red Lake, MN,fifth-graders learn skills to save a choking victim during an American Red Cross Babysitter’s Training class on June 20, 2013.

On a sunny, warm morning in Red Lake, Minnesota, 29 fifth-graders from Red Lake Elementary School were not out enjoying weather. Instead, they were inside a classroom learning how to care for others as part of an American Red Cross Babysitter’s Training class.

Wearing gloves while cradling baby dolls, the children stood in two-person teams practicing skills and repeating Red Cross instructor Debbie Foster’s directions for how to respond to a choking emergency.

“Keep coughing! Are you okay? Call 911!” were some of the verbal directions given by Foster and her co-instructor Lois Holman. With laughing and learning, the children loudly repeated the directions as they worked with the dolls, child-sized manikins, and each other.

Red Cross instructor Debbie Foster helps a student during a babysitter's training class at Red Lake Elementary school in Red Lake, MN, on June 20, 2013. — Red Cross instructor Debbie Foster helps a student during babysitter’s training at Red Lake Elementary school in Minnesota on June 20, 2013.

During babysitter’s training, students learn how to respond to emergency situations, protecting children during common local disasters, such as house fires, tornadoes and lightening strikes. They learn first aid for choking victims, how to hold an infant and how to keep an injured person safe when responding. They also get tips on how to entertain youngsters, deal with tantrums and to care for scraped knees.

Arleen Swenson, their regular school teacher, has worked at Red Lake Elementary for 15 years. She says that her students are right for this training.

“Our kids need to be able to take care of themselves, their siblings and children in their extended families,” says Swenson. “Many of our 10 and 11 year-olds are already active babysitters. We’re glad the Red Cross is here to teach them how to be safe.”

Red Cross Babysitter Training teaches vital skills to youth entrusted with the care of children. From now until July 31, 2013, the Red Cross is offering 20% off all Babysitter Training classes, including our online course Babysitting Basics. For more information, click here. Use coupon code INDY200913 when registering.

Story and photos by Judy Hanne-Gonzalez/American Red Cross. The Red Lake training was made possible with grant funding from the Otto Bremer Foundation.

Children, too, are grateful for Red Cross

Clear Springs Elementary Students with their well earned donations.

While the American Red Cross has hundreds of people donating money or blood every day, some of the Northern Minnesota Region’s most enthusiastic donors, as well as the cutest, are children.

Within the past year our region has received generous donations and letters of encouragement from several elementary schools across the state of Minnesota. Recent contributors have included children from Clear Springs Elementary, Lake Country Elementary, Oxbow Creek Elementary, and Richardson Elementary.

Most of these donations were given to support victims of the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado which occurred on May 20, 2013. Students and staff of Richardson Elementary School from St. Paul, Minnesota, raised an impressive $1,021.95 specifically for Oklahoma tornado relief efforts.

Four Lake Country Elementary students raised money for the Red Cross. — Four Lake Country Elementary students raised money for American Red Cross Disaster Relief.

Not only has our region received various donations, we have also received letters of encouragement from students as well. Clarissa, from Oxbow Creek Elementary of Champlin, Minnesota, sent a wonderful letter expressing her gratitude for all of the American Red Cross’s hard work, “The United States are very grateful for the American Red Cross.”

The support of children like Clarissa brings hope for a new generation of Americans who are learning to help each other in times of crisis. The American Red Cross would not be able to do what it does without the continuing support of the community around it.

Story by Lia Capaldini, Communications Intern, American Red Cross Northern Minnesota Region