St. Louis Area Chapter Blog

Lori Holtmeier - What a Difference a Year Makes

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:37:00 GMT

What a difference a year makes… that statement has never been more true for me.

Let me take you back – New Years Eve 2010… the day was sunny and bright and WAY too warm for December 31st. We were told there was a good chance for severe weather and the forecasters were dead on. The tornados hit with ferocious winds and at least a 20 degree temperature drop. I was scheduled to ride with our Disaster Action Team (DAT) from 4pm – midnight but came in early after it was clear that this was an all-hands-on-deck kind of a day.

The American Red Cross mobilizes to all national disasters with volunteers from all of over the country. But since all “national” disasters start as a local disaster, the first line of responders are almost always local DAT members.

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Marie Major - Calling All Blood Donors!

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:59:00 GMT

The winter months are a difficult time for blood collection. That’s why the American Red Cross and Chef Cat Cora have teamed up to offer all Blood Donors a FREE Soup Mug & Special Chef Cat Cora Recipe Card (while supplies last).

So join us at our office blood drive on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 between 8:30am-12:30pm. The Red Cross office is located at 10195 Corporate Square Dr. St. Louis MO 63132.

To schedule an appointment, please contact me, Marie Major, at mmajor@redcrossstl.org, or 314.516.2882. Or go to www.redcrossblood.org and type in the code STLARC. Please bring a photo ID.

If you are considering donating here are some tips/requirements:

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Lindsey Weber – First Aid Lost and Found

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:49:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, a handful of old Red Cross first aid books appeared on my desk. Not satisfied with the mere existence of these wonderful and colorful instruction manuals from the seventies, I decided to track down their source. I had a feeling that my mini-investigation would lead to another neat Red Cross story, and that’s exactly what I found.

I first tracked the books back to Becky White from our Disaster Services Department. Becky manages our region’s Disaster Action Team volunteers, and one of her current volunteers, Sara Gunn, shared the manuals with her. As it turns out, the books belonged to Sara’s mom. The family is in the process of moving, and Sara rediscovered the books and a few memories.

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Katie Beall– The Gift of Assurance

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:15:00 GMT

The Twelfth Day of Holiday Giving

Sometime in late February my sister and brother-in-law will have a baby boy. This will be the first grandchild for my parents, and of course my younger sister and I are very excited to be aunts. It’s been non-stop chatter about cradles, strollers, and nursery themes for months now. My mom has been focusing on making baby clothes that I am convinced are too tiny to fit anything besides a Polly Pocket Doll. My dad has taken on the task of securing cabinets, padding corners, and plugging electrical outlets. My contribution as the coolest aunt-to-be has been updating their family disaster kit. In addition to supplies for two adults and two dogs we’ve added diapers in a variety of sizes, wipes, clothes, bottles, and baby formula.

Most new parents probably have some of these items packed in a diaper bag, but is that something you remembered to grab when heading to the basement during a tornado, or suddenly evacuating during a flash flood? Maybe yes, but often times the answer is no.

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Lindsey Weber – The Gift of Preparation

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:49:00 GMT

The Eleventh Day of Holiday Giving

This year, I thought about buying my dad a new shovel for the holidays. He loves doing yard-work and building things, so I thought that would be a nice gesture. But this year, the shovel I’m thinking about buying won’t help him plant new trees or create a new garden. Instead, it will help families save their homes, crops and lives when floods threaten.

Here’s how. For a gift of $25 to the Red Cross Holiday Giving Catalog, I can provide, not one, but 5 Shovels to protect people in flood-prone communities. Or for $100, my gift would provide a shovel, gloves, wheelbarrow and rake. Not only would my Dad be honored with a gift in his name, but he would be pretty impressed by my bargain shopping skills.

So before you buy another tool to add to your Dad’s overflowing garage collection, check out this video from Jean Frantz Lazard, a Haitian Red Cross volunteer who worked with the American Red Cross this past summer to prevent flooding in Port-au-Prince.

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Lindsey Weber – The Gift of Safety

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:23:00 GMT

The Tenth Day of Holiday Giving

When I think back on my elementary school days, I can still remember lining the hallways for tornado drills, crouching down against the wall with my hands tight around my head. I had watched The Wizard of Oz one too many times and I wasn’t going anywhere (even if there was a yellow brick road). We even had to put our bomb threat plan into action once; luckily that was a false alarm.

But sometimes we had to test our skills in real-life severe weather situations. I never knew how my teachers could tell the difference between a drill and real severe weather – I probably thought they were magic…I was very creative – but now I think I have it figured out.

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Kimberly Pratt – The Gift of Hope

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:33:00 GMT

The Ninth Day of Holiday Giving

My friends say I travel a lot. That’s true. It seems they know me well. What they may not know is the process it takes for me to get out the door. You see, I have a fear that my house won’t be there when I return because of a fire. I take precautions like making sure electrical appliances are off and some even unplugged. I check the smoke alarm batteries. Almost anything you can think of, I do. Here’s the thing about fires, sometimes it doesn’t matter the precautionary measure you take, it will happen. You just hope someone will be there for you – a family member, a friend or a great organization like the Red Cross. I hope you’ll think about this while reading the story of how one friend’s simple phone call to the Red Cross made a huge difference to Karina Gonzalez after her home was destroyed by fire.

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Elena Sabin – The Gift of Preparedness

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:30:00 GMT

The Eighth Day of Holiday Giving

When the Red Cross talks about preparing for emergencies, we always say that preparedness is most effective when it matches the needs of the local community. So you can imagine that while preparedness methods in St. Louis look one way, they might look completely different in a community around the world. For instance…

You might think of a bicycle as just a means of recreation, but in many places it enables Red Cross volunteers to deliver services in remote villages.

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Lindsey Weber – The Gift of Caring

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:37:00 GMT

The Seventh Day of Holiday Giving

70 years ago today, December 7^th became a day which would live in infamy. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor marking the US entrance into World War II. Moments after the attack, the Red Cross sprang into action.

However, The American Red Cross involvement in World War II preceded the entrance of the United States into the conflict. When hostilities began in Europe in 1939, the Red Cross became the chief provider of relief supplies for the civilian victims of conflict distributed by the Geneva-based International Red Cross Committee.

From there on, the Red Cross maintained a historic presence throughout the duration of the war.

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Laurie Nehring – The Gift of Life

lweber@redcrossstl.org — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:58:00 GMT

The Sixth Day of Holiday Giving

Sometimes it takes some gentle teasing from students in a classroom to prompt a person to do something. In the case of Adair Andrew of Black Jack, MO, that “something” has resulted in 400 platelet donations, and a desire to continue donating blood with the American Red Cross.

Andrew began donating blood as a college student in the 1960’s. Later, while working at a St. Louis area school, Andrew says he was typically unable to attend blood drives at the school because of a busy schedule. He says some of his students would good-naturedly tease him about not donating, which inspired him to make time to give blood. Since then, he’s made donating platelets part of his routine.

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