BASTROP GOLF TOURNAMENT RAISES NEEDED FUNDS FOR CHAPTER

 Ben Pearson, Bill Dorman, Steve Thompson, Lane Pearson and Jose Dominguez

The 3rd Annual Bastrop County American Red Cross Best Ball Golf Tournament was held April 17th at Lost Pines Golf Course in Bastrop.  The event raised more than $1,600 for the local chapter.  Thank you to Steve and Elaine Thompson, Joe Cook, and all our wonderful volunteers who helped make this event a success.   

Ron Brooks and Debbie Hilliard

Fore!

LOCAL VOLUNTEERS PROVIDE HELP NATIONWIDE

From Bill Dorman, Volunteer:

Spring is often a busy time of year for the American Red Cross in Disaster Relief, and this year has been no exception.  Many volunteers assist in operations in other parts of the country in addition to their work in their own chapter.  I went to New Jersey in March when it flooded there and have just returned from Mississippi, which suffered from the same storms that recently hit Nashville and Memphis.  

During large disasters, such as the ones that are currently affecting the Southern Gulf Coast states as well as parts of the Midwest, the local chapter initiates the response and then volunteers from other parts of the country come and help.  In Mississippi, I worked with Red Crossers from all over the country, from Vermont to California and Pascagoula on the Gulf Coast to Corinth in the far northeastern part of the state which is where I was.  

We concentrate on sheltering, feeding, and damage assessment to start with, and then provide family services through caseworkers, health and mental health professionals.  In addition to those who work directly with the people affected, there are support jobs ranging from driving a truck to acting as Public Information Officer to setting up and maintaining computer systems, managing staffing and data entry.

I have been deployed to other chapters a number of times since I became a volunteer during Hurricane Katrina.  In Mississippi, I was the Shelter Manager in a large arena that is usually the setting for 4H shows and country music concerts.  I worked closely with the on-site Chapter CEO and Emergency Services Director and assisted them as a liaison to local community officials, charities and the media. 

This week I opened the newspaper and found to my surprise that an interview I had given at the shelter was the lead story on the front page.  I’ve been a Shelter Manager before, but it was an interesting experience to sit in a room with the Mayor, Police Chief, Emergency Management Director and most of the local charity leads and represent the American Red Cross.  This was in addition to the equally important job of helping some of our younger clients color between the lines in the coloring books we had gotten for them.  

Disaster Relief, whether for a single family fire or a Category 5 hurricane, is stressful, confusing and often chaotic work.  Many of us, however, find it to be one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever done.  The hours are long, but there is often a great sense of camaraderie.  You might work all day trying to figure out where dinner is coming from, or have a few hours off to drive across the state line into Tennessee and visit the civil war battlefield at Shiloh.  And who knew that one of the great culinary delights of the world was a slugburger at the lunch counter of the 150-year -old pharmacy in Corinth, Mississippi?

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please contact Thad Rosenfeld, Community Resources Director at 512.929.1277. The efforts of our volunteers and staff and the generous donations of the American public are what make this work possible.

CEO UPDATE - AUGUST 10, 2009

From Elaine Acker, CEO

Recent Emergency Responses
Last Friday, August 7, the power went off at the Travis Park Apartments – not a good thing when the temperatures are well above 100 degrees. Marcia and Fred Marks responded with the ERV (our Emergency Response Vehicle) along with Tim Garland, with coolers of ice, and water, as well as stuffed animals for the kiddoes. The City of Austin also sent an air-conditioned Cap Metro bus to the scene. There were a number of elderly among the 200+ residents, and this situation was especially dangerous for them. Power was restored by late afternoon but our volunteers were superb in stepping in to help keep people safe.

On August 3, Dave and Laurie Crittenden responded to a house fire in Lockhart. The home was a total loss.

On August 1, when a three-alarm brush fire threatened residential areas in Travis Country, our volunteers responded to assist Travis County fire fighters with snacks and water. The multi-talented team of Fred and Marcia Marks were again on point for this very appreciative group of first responders.

Shelly McAdams and Bill Dorman were rock steady as always in helping coordinate the responses. Thanks to ALL for a job well done! 

Board Retreat II was a Huge Success
Friday’s second board retreat was time well-spent, and I want to thank everyone who attended! We discovered special niches for everyone. LB Brady may have a future as a babysitting instructor (big brownie points for that!), Carmen Tawil has agreed to take on the role of Chair of Volunteers after Felicia transitions off the committee following the Recognition event on the 23rd  (you DO have the 23rd on your calendar, right?), Joyce Batcheller has an idea and a resource for practically everything, and Calvin Turner was so energized he was in the hall making phone calls to prospective donors before he even left the building. The next step is to capture each person’s leads on our spreadsheet and then start setting up appointments or training. All board members will hear from me, Marty McKellips, or Diane Ventresca very shortly!

Welcome New Staff Member Jose Dominguez
Today is Jose Dominguez’s first day with the Chapter as the Preparedness Specialist. While he will devote the majority of his time to collaborating with Disaster Volunteers, he will also work closely with Diane Ventresca and Amber Cooney to ensure that our volunteer program is top notch. He comes to us with prior Red Cross experience and everyone who’s worked with him desperately wants him back. But they can’t have him, and that’s great news for Central Texas!

Office Upgrades
The reception area in building A got its first makeover in eons this past week. We received grant money following the spring storms in 2008 to help us repair damage and upgrade a portion of the interior. There is now carpet in all offices where once there was bare floor. The reception area has been painted and a new desk has been installed. While some of the décor is still in progress, it’s looking fantastic, and I want to thank Denise Blok for all her hard work pulling this together. We don’t have to look fancy (although it looks really nice), but clean and professional is a wonderful thing.

As always, I’m sure there are cool things happening that I have missed, or wonderful volunteers or staff I forgot to mention, so please let me know and I’ll share them next week!

Have a great week!

VOLUNTEERS KEVIN AND SANDY MCCOY IN ACTION

Sandy and I went for a walk this afternoon. It is about a three mile walk to a favorite coffee place, and we had taken all the dogs with us - the sun shining and the weather gorgeous after our brief cold snap. We were just heading home when we got the call that we were needed at a University of Texas housing fire. Well, we picked up the pace and were home in a flash.

We then received a call from our Disaster Action Team captain – Bill Dorman, asking how many comfort kits and Client Assistance Cards we had on hand. Shortly thereafter we had loaded the jeep and were on our way. The reason he was asking was that it looked as if there might be as many as 27 students/coop residents in the coop house that was damaged by the fire.  He also asked us to redirect to another coop property – Whitehall on Nueces Street. The fire itself was on Rio Grande Street about two blocks from where our daughter Mandy works.

We arrived at the Whitehall Coop residence which was to serve as our client services base of operation. We arrived just as a long line of students wound their way there from the site of the fire. It was a curious procession especially as one of the students was carrying a full scale Paper Mache Narwhal! 

We set up shop and started talking to the folks most impacted by the fire, who lived on the third floor. Next we interviewed the students on the second floor that had water damage.  The remainders of the students suffered no damage, but were displaced since the electricity and utilities were shut off until repairs can be made. Bill Dorman - our DAT (Disaster Action Team) captain - had provided us with a damage assessment that was helpful.

We also met a representative from the CO-OP and she was able to arrange for housing, food, and transportation to the new housing for all the coop residents! That meant that we only had to worry about the smaller number of students who lost their clothing, bedding, and personal food in the fire.

The casework plan in place we interviewed the students and offered them Client Assistance Cards where appropriate (based on the interview and damage assessment).

The fire was caused by a glue gun that had been left on after working on a student project. They had a party to complete the project and unfortunately it lasted until dawn, and it looks like the clean up was less than effective. They slept, and then left for sailing, and sometime during the day the glue gun caught the cardboard on fire.  The Dean of Students came in to offer assistance to the students.

Lonnie Williams came and supervised the client case work. Worth stopped by with the ERV, and we got additional comfort kits from him. Sue Gaines was our CAC (Client Assistance Card) activator. By 8:30 we had done all the work with the students that needed assistance, and all the students had shelter, food, and immediate needs of clothing and bedding handled. We could not have done it that quickly except for the cooperation that we received from the CO-OP. They were fantastic.

Most of the fires we respond to are single family dwellings, so this was a bit of a change of pace for us. The students were very appreciative of the help they received, and the CO-OP really stood by them.

Kevin McCoy