Last March we celebrated Red Cross Month by introducing an interactive website called Hometown Heroes. It's a site meant to celebrate our everyday heroes across the United States.


Because of your participation, Hometown Heroes is quite an inspirational spot on the internet. We want you to continue to add your contributions throughout 2007. You can even make finger puppets to send to your heroes, so get over there!

Heroes inspire other heroes, and kindness is contagious. Help us start a chain reaction. Here's your chance to say "you're my hero" to the people who have touched your life. The Red Cross invites you to add your voice to the chorus of heartfelt thanks rising up from your hometown. Help us celebrate America's Hometown Heroes.

The Bay Area Chapter of the American Red Cross has garnered a lot of attention for their preparedness PSA campaign.

Wired is the latest outfit to discuss (and show pictures of) the multifaceted initiative. From their Underwire Blog:

According to the Red Cross, only 6-percent of people are prepared for a natural disaster in the Bay Area, which led to an aggressive push by the non-profit to literally show people what to expect when the big one hits. And it's not just the big one we should be prepared for. "Disasters come in all shapes and sizes," says Prepare Bay Area spokesperson Michael Patrick. "Even though our thrust in this particular campaign is earthquakes, the American Red Cross responds to all kinds of disasters including rock slides, floods, and fires." Which means the preparing you do for an earthquake -- make a plan, create a water, food, and first aid kit, and get trained -- can help whether you're in an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or even, a terrorist attack.

Feel inspired to get prepared yourself?
Tips!

Photo by DevinPoolMan

Yesterday, April 25, 2007, was Malaria Awareness Day all over the world.

We National Headquarters types created awareness with an outdoor event on 17th Street in Washington, DC.

We want to see how you, American Red Cross chapters, National Societies, and all citizens of the world, marked this day of awareness.

Join the Fight the Bite Flickr pool!



Want even more info?
Check out the Webby Award nominated, Red Cross partner project, NothingButNets.net

This morning's blog search turned up a moving account of one Red Cross worker's experience in responding to the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Entitled Hope Springs from Tragedy, in part:

The Red Cross has counseled nearly 600 individuals, served over 1,000 meals and snacks, brought in 200 spiritual care ministers, nine pet therapy teams and 24 staff members, of which I am just one. We flew in family members from around the globe and told the story to the world through well over 100 network and affiliate news sources from five different continents. My alarm would sound at 5:00 in the morning and I wouldn't turn out the light until 11:00 or 12:00 at night.

You may have heard about the Red Cross response on the scene in Blacksburg, or seen the newscast about pet therapy's role in healing, but perhaps you missed the helpful coping resources we've posted online:

Red Cross Offers Resources to Help Children and Adults Cope with Tragedy

American Red Cross Supports Community Following Virginia Tech Tragedy

Photo by Elaine Vigneault

We think it's important to listen to all of you. Every day we spend a few minutes searching Technorati for your comments and opinions about the American Red Cross.

On occasion, you report that we've messed up in some way. When that happens we do our best to figure out a solution to your situation and to remedy any wrongdoing on our part. Such was the case yesterday on Andrew Ferguson dot NET:

As you know, I took an American Red Cross class on Saturday that I felt was less th[a]n satisfactory. I just got off the phone with one of the directors for the Mile High (Denver) chapter of the American Red Cross.

I wrote about my thoughts on the class last night at 10:30 pm and now I was actually talking to [a] real person who was trying to help me out. That is why this is so awesome. The American Red Cross cares about me as a person and they're willing to go the extra kilometer [to] make sure that I'm happy.

In the long term, this gives the American Red Cross HUGE points. I can't tell you [how] highly I think of them now. I'd even venture to say that because of his call, I am now significantly more likely to take another class from the American Red Cross then I was before.

And all it took was a seven minute phone call.

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Thanks for your kind words, Andrew. We'll see you in class!

Tip: Find a First Aid, CPR, and AED course near you

Hey bloggers!

Livejournal user Lurana blogged while she donated platelets:

Well I've got 20 minutes left of donating my platelets, so here i am. the [M]inneapolis American Red Cross center, i think is the best. the staff are wonderful and they have internet available. i highly recommend checking to see if you're eligible to donate platelets. it's another wonderful way to help save lives. The platelets are what helps you to clot when you're bleeding and the process of separating out the platelets from your blood is called apheresis. well, i'm almost done here so i will sign off.
www.givebloodgivelife.org

Donating platelets is a bit different from donating whole blood. You can find out about the whole process on the Red Cross website:
By using a special method called apheresis, whole blood is separated into components, and the platelets are removed.

Since it takes about 2 hours to donate and some of the apheresis centers now offer free wifi (we're currently trying to assess just how many across the US), why not bring your laptop and blog while you save a life?

Talk about multi-tasking...

Well, we suppose the following makes a good cautionary tale for avoiding home fires.

After last week's Nor'easter and Virginia Tech tragedy, we could use a little levity around here. That said, we'd be remiss not to note that we're happy the snake-hating family is safe.

From Herptile Blog:

A Lynchburg family was displaced Saturday evening after a fire damaged their Morgan Street home. The cause: a failed attempt at killing a snake. Battalion Chief Walt Bailey said around 4 p.m. Saturday a man was working in his yard in the 200 block of Morgan Street when he saw a snake. He decided to kill the snake by throwing gasoline on it and setting it on fire.

When he struck the match, Bailey said, a bush near the house also caught on fire. Bailey said the man got out a garden hose, and thought he put out the fire.

However, the radiant heat from the bush ignited the insulation underneath the house’s metal siding. Bailey said no one could tell the house was on fire for a couple of hours. Around 9:07 p.m., the Lynchburg Fire Department was dispatched to the scene. Bailey said he didn’t know how much damage was caused, but estimated it is in the thousands of dollars.

He said smoke was coming out from the side of the house and out of the attic. “It’s not a total loss,” he said. “One of the walls in the home was burned through, and the ceilings had to be broken up.”

The family of five is now with the Lynchburg Chapter of the American Red Cross.

“I guess the moral of this story is that no matter how much you don’t like snakes, throwing gasoline on them is not a good way of killing them,” Bailey said.

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Tips: Make Your Home Fire Safe

Call your local Red Cross chapter for training in your area or click here for more information.

Top 10 Reasons Why It's Great To Be A Lifeguard
1. Earn money and respect
2. Challenge yourself
3. Have fun
4. Serve your community
5. Develop leadership skills
6. Put swimming skills to good use
7. Gain valuable work experience
8. Meet new people
9. Safeguard families in and around water
10. SAVE LIVES!!!

You don't have to believe us, though. Check out what Liz at Leave No Snail Behind is telling you:

Try to remain calm. You are reading a blog written by an actual, certified Red Cross Water Safety Instructor. Or, as I prefer, WSI. I had to take a class, and read books, and demonstrate skills, and even cram for a test. [...] The point is, with those 3 letters I think I can charge close to $40/hr for swim lessons. Considering I'll spend most of the summer drenched in chlorine anyway, I might as well get paid for it.

While this sort of activity is certainly not condoned by the American Red Cross, we enjoyed reading about how these three men made their blood donation experience a little more "interesting."

In large part, here's the story:

So today while donating blood I c[a]me up [with] the most fantastic idea. More awesome than cup stacking, more awesome than dodgeball. Yes it's a race to see who can fill up that pint sized IV bag of blood faster. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that this is a sporting event soon to sweep the nation. Keep your eyes peeled on ESPN 8, The Ocho.

The rules were simple. Once they started taking your blood the time started. Once they tied off the tube you were done. (The nurses kept time for us for the sake of impartial judging). Through the course of the event new rules had to be made to compensate for some "cheating".

A) If you got a cold cloth for your forehead/back of neck that was -- +1:00

B) Propping your feet up -- +:30 seconds

C) The nurse comes by gives you fruit juice, a foot massage, gives you a manicure and treats you like Lindsey Lohan at a day spa -- BIG FAT DQ

None of the following happened to me however one in our party received all 3 "penalties". The competition was fierce and all competitors displayed fine skills in athleticism and strength. The scores have been tallied and the judges have agreed.

First Place-- Chris "Blazing Pipes" Scott- 5:24

Second Place-- Shawn "Watch me Pump" Arnett- 6:03

3rd Place-- Scott "Watch me Squirt" Ponte- 6:34

Disqualified-- Tom "I got the day spa gift package" Tedesco- (10:00+ who the [curse word deleted - this is a family blog] counts after 7)

Donate blood to your local Red Cross. Someone out there thanks you.

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Tip: Other games about blood at GiveLife.org

LiveJournal blogger ZKot says:

Yesterday I ran into Bart wearing his Red Cross outfit. He said he was on his way up to Maine to help with the disaster up there? huh? Disaster in Maine? Flooding?

That's right, the media coverage has drifted off the severe storms in the Northeast this week, but that doesn't mean the flood damage has gone away.

You can stay up-to-speed on how the American Red Cross is responding by checking in with the April 2007 Nor'Easter Blog or Redcross.org

Thanks to blogger Brainstream, you can see the geocoded visual evidence of this disaster on Flickr.

A note from Microsoft:
i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live Messenger™. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. We've set no cap on the amount we'll donate to each organization. The sky's the limit.

We started this blog because the American Red Cross is one of the charities chosen for the i'm making a difference project.

Sign up for it here!