More than 600 volunteers were the guests of honor at the Annual Meeting and Celebration of Volunteers at Drexelbrook in Drexel Hill, PA on Wednesday, September 26.

• Event Highlights
• Award Winners
• Photo Album

It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate, and one reason that is true is the American Red Cross. The Red Cross really is a place called America, an America where we still look after each other, even when we don't know each other. Thank you for making those words ring true every day.

Preparedness is serious business, and SEPA Chapter gave it the attention it deserved last month during National Preparedness Month through more than 60 events aimed at preparing the Southeastern Pennsylvania region for disaster.

Red Cross trainers fanned out across the City of Philadelphia on September 29 to deliver Be Red Cross Ready trainings to congregants and community members at six area churches, part of a new partnership aimed at faith-based preparedness.

Red Crossers are taking to the streets to mark National Fire Prevention Month in October. Volunteers from Disaster Action Teams, county boards and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) are teaming up to conduct fire safety walkthroughs in Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks counties.

General Robert French, newly appointed director of PEMA, visited the Red Cross on September 21 to address a regional meeting of Southeastern PA Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (SEPA VOAD).

During his keynote address, he praised the volunteers who are the backbone of VOAD and the Red Cross.

Amidst groaning and screaming, the official told victim volunteer Tom Ollila that he was unconscious and should just lie down. Two men in HAZMAT suits picked him up and carried him through the crowd, through the shower simulators and to a line where he would regain consciousness again. He was one of the lucky ones. Although covered in burn makeup, he would get treatment and make a full recovery.

ES, VOAD and Citizen Corps representatives were on hand as the Department of Homeland Security presented a series of counter-terrorism trainings called Soft Targets Awareness at the Montgomery County Fire Academy the week of August 6, 2007.

MaryAnn Marrocolo, Deputy Managing Director of Emergency Management for the City of Philadelphia, addressed members of the city Disaster Action Team (DAT) on Thursday September 20, 2007.

In September 2007, I was deployed to the Northern Illinois floods, where I worked first as a public affairs officer and later as a client caseworker. I joined 305 Red Cross volunteers from across the nation deployed to Illinois to assist residents affected by the recent flooding. These volunteers came from as far as Portland, Oregon and Visalia, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Miami, Florida.