Denny Smith before before the cancer. Photo courtesy of the Denny Smith family.
It is with a great sadness that that we say goodbye to Red Cross disaster action team member and dispatch volunteer Denny Smith, who passed away in late September. For the past 14 months Denny had been fighting a courageous battle with brain cancer, a fight that he did not give up easily.
After his retirement from law enforcement, Denny started volunteering on the Red Cross Emergency Medical Services Team with his wife, Karen, and in 2009, became one of our most active disaster responders. With his cheerful spirit, wonderful sense of humor, and passion to serve, Denny promptly became a valuable teammate and friend to many of us.
Denny remained active during the early stages of his brain cancer, often sending email updates, and attending meetings to stay connected with the group.
Denny is dearly missed and our hearts go out to his grieving loved ones.
Our Red Cross chapter mobile feeding on the road in Pennsylvania after the flooding. Photo credit: Rick Campion/American Red Cross
(from Rick and Karen Campion, Red Cross Emergency Services Volunteers based in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Today is day 16 of our Red Cross deployment to the Pennsylvania flood response and we’re on our way home to Minneapolis. This morning we cleared the final mobile feeding truck inspection and out-processing without a hitch.
This Red Cross national disaster response was well organized with a full complement of volunteers covering nearly 12,000 sq. miles of flood ravaged territory. Rick and I had a mobile feeding route in some of the hardest hit areas right along the banks of the Susquehanna River. We went from house to house to deliver meals. Many of the recipients said we were the first disaster relief people they had seen.
It was difficult to not get teary eyed when they expressed their sincere
appreciation.
We have traveled nearly 4000 miles since we left home on 9/11 and today was
a quiet ride allowing us time to reflect on our Pennsylvania experience. It’s easy to
be grateful for your blessings when you see the huge loss of so many.
We plan to be home this week and will see many of you soon.
One destroyed house along the route where Red Cross volunteers are providing meals and snacks following the Pennsylvania flooding. Photo credit: Rick Campion/American Red Cross
It’s now day 11 in our Pennsylvania flood deployment with the Red Cross and we’ve settled into a regular mobile feeding route in the mobile feeding truck (ERV). We travel about 2 hours to get to our first scheduled stop and then serve between 100-150 meals. Our route follows the river and some of the homes that were very close to the river bank (see pic). We recognize our “regulars” and it’s fun to give and get hugs from people who really appreciate the help that the Red Cross provides. Ah, this our reward.
When people see “Minneapolis, MN” on the side of our truck, they’re always surprised and grateful at how far we’ve traveled to serve them.
The Red Cross disaster relief effort in Pennsylvania has served more than 221,000 meals/snacks and it is now down to 4 open shelters. We can see that people are slowly getting back on their feet. Many of the original shelters were opened in schools and it causes some logistical problems with the school’s now regularly scheduled activities. So after 3 weeks, those affected by the floods are encouraged to find alternate housing arrangements.
We expect to be released from the operation next week and look forward to coming home.
Red Cross volunteer Dave Schoeneck displays his newly earned Red Cross pin from New Hampshire following Hurricane Irene. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Some of our Northern Minnesota Region volunteers are returning home after weeks-long deployments to states all along the east coast. Dave Schoeneck, one of our local volunteer stars, was in New Hampshire where he served on the government relations team. He returns happy to have deployed to help those affected by Hurricane Irene. Among the many take-aways for Dave: making new Red Cross friends, using and refining his response skills and knowledge, and earning a New Hampshire Red Cross pin. Go-Dave-Go!
The Red Cross response to Irene continues with more than 5,000 people relying on Red Cross shelters for a safe place to stay. To support this and other disaster relief efforts, you can make a donation via redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. You can also click here and learn more about becoming a Red Cross disaster relief volunteer.
Girl Scouts Lydia, Kyla and Aisha, along with Red Cross CEO Phil Hansen, present the new "Fun Binz" that will help children affected by disaster. Photo credit: Ruth Talford/American Red Cross
Girl Scout Troop 50816 in Woodbury, Minnesota, worked all summer on a community project to help children affected by disasters. The outstanding result is the creation of “Fun Binz” that are filled with toys, games and activities that can be transported to a Red Cross emergency disaster shelter or used by Red Cross outreach when serving children.
The Girl Scouts presented the Fun Binz to the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter in mid-August. They toured the Red Cross offices and also had the opportunity to meet Northern Minnesota Region CEO Phil Hansen, Readiness Coordinator Ruth Talford, and Red Cross Volunteer Deb Nagurski, a long-standing disaster mental health relief worker who helped with this project. Many thanks to everyone!
Jeff Skoog is a Red Cross volunteer disaster relief work based in Minneapolis. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Red Cross volunteers are amazing for about one billion-gazillion reasons. Take Jeff Skoog, who serves as a volunteer disaster relief worker during both local and national responses.
When Jeff could be out reeling in a sturgeon or walleye on this incredibly lovely summer day in Minnesota, he is instead here at work sprucing up the chapter’s mobile feeding truck.
Children are returning to school during the coming weeks. Some will be spending time home alone until parents return home from work. Now’s the time for both parents and children to take and learn safety steps that will make after-school hours at home alone safer and less stressful for everyone.
Top ten steps parents + guardians can take:
Develop a home safety plan and discuss and practice it with the whole family.
If a child is going home after school, have him or her call to check in after arriving home.
For an older child, set ground rules about whether other kids can come over, whether cooking is okay, and whether the child can leave home.
Post an emergency phone list where the child can see it.
Make sure the first aid kit is stocked and stored where your children can find it, but keep our of reach of young children.
Identify neighbors whose home your child can go to in case of an emergency.
Remove or safely store in locked areas dangerous items like guns, ammunition, knives, hand tools, power tools, razor blades, scissors, and other objects that can cause injury.
Make sure potential poisons like detergents, polishes, pesticides, care-care fluids, lighter fluid and lamp oils are stored in locked cabinets or out of the reach of children.
Make sure medicine is kept in a locked storage place or out of the reach of children.
Make sure at least one approved smoke alarm is installed and operating on each level of the home.
Top ten steps kids can take:
Lock the door and make sure all the windows are closed and locked.
Never open the door to strangers.
Never open the door to delivery people or service representatives.
Never tell someone on the telephone that mom or dad are not at home. Say something like “My mom is busy right now. Can I take a message?”
Do not talk about being home alone on public websites.
Never leave the house without permission.
Do not go outside to check out an unusual noise. If the noise worries you, call mom, dad, or the police.
Do not have friends over to visit when mom or dad aren’t at home without permission.
Do not let anyone inside who is using drugs or alcohol, even if you know them.
If you smell smoke or hears a fire or smoke alarm, get outside and ask a neighbor to call the fire department.
Perhaps you have more steps + tips that you’d like to share. Also, visit redcross.org to learn more about being Red Cross ready before, during, and after emergencies.
Three to get ready, now go cat go! His shoes weren’t blue or suede, but we were delighted to have Elvis on hand for the 2011 Run for Blood Quarter Marathon & 5K.
Elvis kicked of this year's Run for Blood, helping support the Red Cross. Photo credit: William Kahn/American Red Cross
More than 460 people raced around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, helping to raise more than $10K for the Red Cross and its humanitarian mission to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
Thank you to Mr. Luther Hagen, event founder and all around booster for the Red Cross, and to everyone who helped make this event a great success.
For Liz, not working for the Red Cross is like not breathing. Wherever she goes, she wants to know: “Où est la Croix Rouge?”… “Where is the Red Cross?”
Let’s start with a war in east Africa in the 1990s. We know this war that happened in Rwanda and how people fled to nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“Help the Red Cross and the Red Cross helps you,” says Liz, who started with the Red Cross in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I am going to help the Red Cross until my death.” Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Some know this war better than others. Among them is Liz, a former Red Cross nurse who lived in a DRC border town with Rwanda.
“We gave food to refugees, put up tents, gave medical care, sent messages to families,” says Liz.
Liz responded for four years. As a Red Cross nurse, she tended to the war wounded, or in French “les blessés de guerre.” She helped until it was time to leave.
“Soldiers came and they tried to recruit my sons for the war,” she says.
She fled when her family left for Zambia and became a refugee. Even so, she turned to the Red Cross and started helping others.
“We helped friends and when others arrived from the Congo. We helped them with food, blankets, dishes, and pots. We approached them, to help them.”
Then she flees again. This time to South Africa where her passion for the Red Cross was put aside for getting food and money to support her children.
“Life there was hard. I could not work for the Red Cross in South Africa,” explains Liz.
Jump ahead several years to 2009 when she lands in the United States. One day while riding a bus in Minneapolis, she exits at a wrong (or perhaps a right) bus stop. That’s when she saw the Red Cross flag flying near the Mississippi River.
Dozens of manikin face masks need cleaning everyday for the next CPR + First Aid training classes. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
“I went there and I spoke to someone who asked me ‘what do you do?’ I told them and they said I will find a place for you.”
We could in this brief story dwell on the horror and trauma of war, but we will not. Instead, let’s turn to Liz and what inspires her to look for and serve with the Red Cross.
“The Red Cross helps me. It helps me to help people, to reduce suffering, to rescue people. They help me everywhere, not just in the Congo. They help people even back in the forest, sharing information. They go deep in the forest, even by foot, to help people.”
Like Red Cross people around the world, Liz serves without boundaries. In her country, she says, there’s a Red Cross song: “Night or day, blood or wound, always we serve.”
For Liz, this means serving for a lifetime, “I am going to help the Red Cross until my death.”
Liz is currently serving as a Red Cross volunteer cleaning manikins used in health and safety training classes such as CPR and First Aid for the American Red Cross Twin Cities Area Chapter in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.
Story, photo, & video credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Dennis Parker is holding onto optimism that his family will soon have a new place to call home and move out of the Red Cross shelter in north Minneapolis for families displaced by the May 22 tornado. Photo credit: Bill Fitler/American Red Cross
“I’ll never forget that day,” says Dennis Parker Sr. while sitting down for breakfast at the Red Cross shelter at North Commons Recreations Center nearly 3 weeks after the tornado ripped through north Minneapolis.
“It started raining, it got real windy. I didn’t hear the siren until it was all over,” recalls Parker. “When the tornado came, it sounded like a bunch of trains. Bang! Bang! Bang! The tornado ripped the trees right out of the ground. It laid down five of them on our house, and we had a tree limb in our attic. Our basement flooded. It didn’t touch the neighbors on either side of us.”
Parker’s speech is animated as he describes how he, his wife, and four children sought refuge in their house during the storm, but his voice loses some intensity as he shares details about his family’s experiences looking for a new place to call home.
“My wife is in the computer room looking for other places for us to live. We’ll go visit anything she finds, and then we may go to the library. Yesterday we checked out a couple of apartments, but landlords don’t want to rent to us because we’re low income.”
Cots placed in a circle help families create personal spaces in the Red Cross shelter sleeping area at North Commons Recreation Center in Minneapolis. Photo credit: Amanda Mark/American Red Cross
For Parker, shelter life is something he has come to accept. The shelter’s sleeping area is in the North Commons gym. While not very private, each family has tucked their cots closely together, leaving any extra space they can manage between the different family groups. Families with small children have arranged a little play area in the middle of the cots for them.
“The Red Cross has been doing the best they can,” says Parker. “These people we call family, we’re all in the sandbox together. I kind of like being here. We really haven’t had any problems.”
During a graduation party held in the park behind North Commons a few days ago, and how the party organizers donated the rest of their food to those living in the shelter. He helped by cooking at the center’s outdoor grill.
That night, Parker met with a local group that’s helping people find new places to live after the storm. Parker says he’s holding onto optimism for him and his family.
“They were very uplifting, very reassuring,” he says. “They say ‘soon.’ Maybe we’ll find out today.”
(Reporting by Bill Fitler, Red Cross disaster relief volunteer)
American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region 