This week Toledo, Ohio held a dedication ceremony for the Veterans' Glass City Skyway.

The American Red Cross was there to hand out bottled water to visitors. Craig from Idea Treks wondered who paid for all this water and we were able to provide some info to him. See the exchange below.

Original Blog post:

Veterans’ Glass City Skyway Dedication
Idea Treks
The second picture shows the bottles of water and Special K water which the Red Cross was handing out as people got off the bus on the bridge.  (I’m curious about who paid for this stuff - hopefully disaster relief funds weren’t involved)

American Red Cross comment:
Hi Craig,
Can I please clarify something that appears in your blog?
American Red Cross volunteers gave their time to pass out plain and Special K water to participants in the much awaited bridge opening. The water was donated to the ODOT and the bridge committee from Giant Eagle and the Kellogg Corporation and not purchased with donated dollars. Our volunteers were just the conduit to pass it out to walkers and other spectators to keep them hydrated in the heat of the day. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please give me a call or e-mail [redacted]. Have a good day.

Blogger return comment:
Craig Says: June 27th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Thanks very much for your clarification Diane. I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my post. I didn’t really think that disaster relief funds were used for the water, but I did wonder who had supplied it. While I’m sure the Red Cross is helped greatly by corporate donations throughout the year and during times of crisis I am a bit surprised that Giant Eagle and Kellogg’s didn’t want some type of sign on the premises stating that they had donated the water. Bloggers provide one more way for Americans to get answers! Thanks again!

The lovely Nicki at The Birthplace of the Process of Illogical Logic gave a shout-out to the new Red Cross Twitter channel. She also highlights the ongoing Red Cross Disaster Portal we've been working on for about 6 months now.

Below is Nicki's post. Read it and check out the Twitter channel.

I’d like to introduce you guys to someone: Ike Pigott. He’s a local blogger that I ran across on Twitter some time ago. I’ve been following his blog, Occam’s RazR, for a while now. He works for Red Cross and has an extensive background in communications.

He’s recently set himself upon a personal quest to utilize the online tools and social media for disaster relief and aid. He’s created the Red Cross Online Disaster Portal and opened the Red Cross Twitter Channel.

The idea is that people in evacuation zones could “follow” the Red Cross Twitter feed from their cell phones, and find out about shelter locations and service delivery sites.

I think it’s a great idea, and I’m personally excited to be able to see first-hand the mediums that we have available to us today being put to use for such a great cause. This will be especially handy for us locally with hurricane season coming up, as well as tornado season!

If you are interested in helping out or would like more information, please contact Ike. I’m sure that he’d love to hear from you and could use any and all help sent his way!

Google has compiled before and after satellite images of Greensburg, Kansas. The result is a powerful look at the devastation this area has suffered.

From the Guardian Unlimited Technology Blog:

Before:

And after:

(If you want to donate to relief for the citizens there, you can use the US Red Cross website.)

A kind soul has compiled this handy information for anyone to place on their own blog, and it appears to be spreading around. Thank you to everyone who is posting it.

******
Can you help the Kansas Tornado Victims?

My MySpace "friend" Russell Lee Lovenstein has asked that I pass this information on. If you are able and.or know anyone else who is able, would you forward this information on.

Greensburg Tornado American Red Cross information.
Address: 
American Red Cross
Cannonball Trail Chapter
114 N Main, Suite B
Pratt, KS 67124
Phone: 620-672-3651
Fax: 620-672-9283

Salina Flood American Red Cross Information
North Central Kansas Red Cross
145 S Santa Fe
Salina KS 67401
785.827.3644
785.827.4572 Fax

Tornado Story

Salina Flood Story

American National Red Cross Donation Information

Financial Donations
Thank you for your generosity. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate a donation for a specific disaster, please do so at the time of donation. To make a financial donation:

Click here or  call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or 1-800-257-7575 (Español)

Mail a Donation to:
American Red Cross — P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013
National American Red Cross website

Please consider donating to either the Red Cross or The Salvation Army to help the victims of last week's tornadoes, most notably the one that wiped out Greensburg, Kansas. And, of course, disasters to come.

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.

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

American Red Cross Supports Community Following Virginia Tech Tragedy

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?