Red Cross Philly bloggers are staff members and volunteers of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. Each post is an insight into the daily work of the Chapter-our day-to-day fulfillment of the mission of the organization.
First of all, let me apologize. I’ve let us down. I forgot that I would not be blogging Monday because I was spending that day on my porch instead of my cubicle, and I forgot to remind the fabulous Chrissy to mention the action of the day.
So today, let us travel back in time-- to a more simple era, MONDAY, Septermber 6th
Photo courtesy of metalmachine.net
Action of the day: Choose a place out of the area that you and your family can go if you need to evacuate. Remember pets!
If you were Michael J. Fox, your place would be the clock tower that gets struck by lightning.
Photo courtesy of obsessedwithfilm.com
Next, we’ll zip our Deloreon speedily into TUESDAY, September 7th
Action of the Day: Learn the difference between a watch and a warning.
To make things easier, much as the idea of technology did for the writers of Back to the Future, I’ve written the key differences up:
Watch — Severe weather is possible in and near the watch area. Stay informed and be ready to act if a severe weather warning is issued.
Warning— Severe weather has been reported by spotters or indicated by radar. Warnings indicate imminent danger to life and property.
And finally, we arrive to the present.
Action of the Day: Purchase three gallons of water for everyone in your family
This one is pretty self-explanatory. You need water and if you and your family have no running water in your house because of some large-scale disaster, you would need this amount to sustain yourselves until help has time to arrive.
What an exciting ride down Preparedness Parkway!
As an AmeriCorps member, part of our service work involves going out into the Philadelphia community bimonthly to volunteer for a day with other non-profit organizations in the area. For our first service day the AmeriCorps crew decided to work with Friends of Indepenence Park, a group that maintains the Independence mall. While working with the group, we planted gorgeous mums and weeded. Luckily, the rain did not hit us and we had quite an enjoyable afternoon. We can't wait to return to the park in the future to visit the friendly park rangers and see the mums after they bloom!
This weekend in September is very important for the following reasons:
1. Ok so it's a little late, but yesterday was Nine Oh Two One Oh Day (9/02/10)! I hope everyone celebrated in style. I'm getting down with the grunge look this weekend. Today I am wearing my most acid washed jean shirt.
Photo courtesy of stylebayarea.com
Don’t worry, it’s casual Friday. Aside from this blog, there’s no sustained silliness at our SEPA chapter- hard workers are typing, planning, organizing, and networking away as I write.
-- which brings us to the next point
2. La-bor Day! La-bor Day! La-bor Day! (Note that anything with three syllables can become a chant like: Darth Va-der! James Earl Jones! James Earl Jones!)
Photo courtesy of toplessrobot.com
-- which bring us to point numero tres (#3)
3. Hurricane Earl is upon the Northeast. The American Red Cross is on the ground in fourteen states along the East Coast. The ARC has been laboriously setting up shelters in North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Emergency planning is continuing in ten other states along the coast.
-- which (amazingly) bring us to point number four
4. It’s the first weekend of Preparedness Month! Will you be prepared for the Hurricane Season?
You can get one step closer to being prepared by following the...
Action of the Day: Choose a family member or friend out of town to be your Emergency Contact.
Action for Sat. 9/04: Make a wallet card for everyone in your family with the contact number.
Action for Sun. 9/05: Add other family members and doctor’s numbers to the contact cards.
These actions are so simple, but they can really make a difference in a time of emergency. Keeping connected to one source is pivotal in case of separation; this emergency contact can also give you lifesaving information and provide you with assistance. Yesterday, I received my Red Cross business cards- pretty snazzy. Feel free to snazz up your contact cards- I will.
Photo courtesy of someecards.com
Have a great weekend!
To read more about Hurricane Preparedness click HERE
Watch this video from FEMA and the Ad-Council. It does a great job demonstrating why we should take some time this month to make sure we are prepared in the event of disaster.
Cool flips and weightlessness aside, this video demonstrates that disasters often show little warning signs, then suddenly, flip our worlds upside-down. Having a kit, a plan and being informed make it easier to deal with the effects - and land those backflips.
Action of the Day: Buy one flashlight & extra batteries for every member of your family and put it in that awesome gold backpack Aurora made you buy yesterday.
September is National Preparedness Month!
How will I celebrate you ask? Well the Preparedness Team here at the SEPA Chapter has made it easy for the ARC staff to “get down” with preparedness by encouraging one action a day.
Action of the Day: Find a backpack or duffel bag that will be your disaster supplies kit.
Ways you (and I) will remember to do this:
- Did you guys watch the movie “Up in the Air”? George Clooney kept going on and on about backpacks and filling them with things and emptying them out. Well, the next time you breathe “air” think of a backpack big enough for the things you will need in case of an emergency.
Photo courtesy of www.celluloidfun.com
- It’s back to school season! I was a HUGE nerd and loved school shopping every year. As I pranced around in the school supplies aisle- I drooled over the new sturdy, colorful backpacks (I always had to reuse my old ones until they broke/tore). So, next time you see a back-to-school ad, think of me drooling and then get a BACKPACK or duffel bag for your emergency supplies.
This backpack is made of gold- GOLD!
Photo courtesy of highsnobiety.com
I think that’s all the memory aids I’ll provide.
Seriously, being prepared for a disaster is critical. Predicting disasters is difficult, but preparing for them is not. As our mothers have always said “it’s better to be safe than sorry”.
As you may already know, Pakistan has recently experienced the country’s worst flooding in 80 years. The swelling waters have left 1,400 dead and 2.5 million without homes. As more thundershowers continue to increase the water-level, the amounts of people affected reaches incredible heights as well. The rain is predicted to continue its unrelenting downpour into the weekend (Aug 27-29). Regardless to say, this disaster has left the country devastated.
Take a look at the flood from above, by www. wired.com.
The disaster has left certain people unreachable- the UN has stated that 80,000 have been cut off from the road, and can only be reached by air.
“These unprecedented floods pose unprecedented logistical challenges, and this requires an extraordinary effort by the international community,” John Holmes, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator, said. (“800,000 Pakistanis Cut Off From Road”, New York Times)
The most urgent needs are food, clean drinking water, tents, and medical services. The American Red Cross has promised an initial $100,000 for the relief efforts, specifically for the most vulnerable populations of the country, including women and children. Preventing the spread of water-borne diseases one of the major concerns of the ICRC.
Throughout the next 9 months, the Red Cross and Red Crescent global collective will bolster the efforts of the local Red Crescent Chapters to aid 25,000 families in this time of desperate need.
If you would like to help the people of Pakistan recover from this calamity, donate to the Pakistan Relief and Development effort.
You can also keep updated on the disaster, read more about the disaster - the most recent NYTimes article
There is nothing like a feel-good story about someone performing a modest act of compassion.
National Geographic published an article about two dolphins whose lives were at risk after they had mistakenly swallowed shards of plastic. After the efforts of veterinarians had failed, the world’s tallest man volunteered to help. Only he (with his unusually lengthy arms) was capable of removing the plastic and saving the dolphins’ lives.
This article stuck in my mind, as it presents strikingly like a light children’s fable – a story that makes me smile a little more than I’d anticipate. And comparable to these works of fiction, there is a definitive moral:
Every person has a really long arm to lend through volunteerism.
Maybe for you it can start with teaching a life-saving CPR course, or responding to a local residential fire, or directing an urgent message to a military person serving overseas? These are just a few of the many different volunteer opportunities available for you at the SEPA Red Cross Chapter.
Summer is drawing it’s curtain, as a result, the last couple of days in the office have been a little quiet (what with everyone trying to soak up the last of the summer rays). Tumbleweeds have been ruling where enthusiastic SEPA workers once typed their way into non-profit success. But I am happy to report that all is well again! Almost all the staff on the fifth floor (the penthouse, as I like to call it) have returned. And I have discovered that it is in fact true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. We have not only recovered those that took small breaks, but we have also added new faces to our ARC family. And what can I say, it’s a pretty good lookin’ family.
Anyone can belong to this good lookin’ family by becoming a VOLUNTEER. Everyone can make a difference at the SEPA Chapter.
Some inspiration:
I constantly need to control my urge to sing out loud- TODAY’s song: “Let’s Work Together” by Canned Heat.
New Jersey is reputed to be the home to a distinctive breed of driver. New Jersey natives don’t take this assessment lying down. As a group, we tend to have a rather poor opinion of other states’ driving habits and infrastructure. I know that when I, a life-long Jersey resident, was forced to navigate the freeways and access roads in South Carolina or turn left across four lanes of traffic in California, I was left with a distinct desire to return to the omnipresent highways and jughandles I was reared on.
What does this have to do with my work at the Red Cross? An unexpected bonus of my service here is learning to drive the ERVs. ERVs, our pithy little acronym for Emergency Response Vehicles, are the ambulance-sized vehicles the Red Cross uses to respond to some disasters. They see a lot of action when mobile feeding or bulk transport is required. They are also huge. Driving them requires one to attend to signs protruding into the road, know clearance heights of bridges and overpasses, and, last but not least, to rely on the hand signals of a fellow Red Cross volunteer as seen in the rearview mirror in order to back up.
Naturally, with my geographic prejudices, I felt a little wary of driving such a vehicle through the city streets of Philadelphia, PA. Never mind the fact that I have never enjoyed driving the family minivan; I opted for the sedan every time.
As things turned out, my emotional distress was entirely unwarranted. Hand signals are surprisingly easy to heed and the sheer size of the vehicle means that other cars are doing their best to avoid you. However while my fears about the vehicle itself proved baseless, my concerns about the foreign streets did not. Philadelphia is ridden with one-way streets and odd turns. It just goes to show that, no matter the vehicle, I’ll always be a Jersey driver at heart.
