CHAPTER MILESTONES
Chairman’s Cabinet Hosts James Lee Witt…David Cohen,
chair emeritus and chair of the Chairman’s Cabinet of this chapter,
hosted the Clinton Administration FEMA Director at a breakfast meeting
with 20 corporate leaders from the region on April 25. Witt outlined
his view of the corporate role in disaster response and engaged in a
good exchange with Chairman’s Cabinet members, which also included
former board chairs Walt D’Alessio, George Karr and Ray Angelo.
Former Bush Administration members Tommy Thompson (thanks to Anne
Wilms) and Tom Ridge are fall speakers in this series…Red
Cross “Walk in the Rain”…(as opposed to the park)“neither
rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail” stood in the way of almost 800
hardy supporters of this chapter, who helped raise a still estimated
$140,000 (net) on a soggy April 22 by completing a 6.2 mile walk in
Fairmount Park. Honorary Chair Pat Croce had everyone warmed up (and
even feisty!) by the 9:15 start, and the Hopewell Animal Clinic in
Horsham helped care for about 30 special guest canines who lined up at
the start. We didn’t make goal thanks to the weather, but were
inspired by the enthusiasm and determination of the 81 teams who made
it to the finish line. The SEPA chapter staff exceeded our goal of
$35,000, with a total $37,658.41 …“Help Can’t Wait”
Awards Make Headlines…Channel Three’s Pat Ciarocchi
bestowed the honors on three Red Cross trained volunteers who saved
lives this year, and on a host of corporate, government and community
partners who ran model safety programs this past year. Three Philly TV
stations covered the event, and KYW radio ran a terrific drive-time
story about Matthew Gale, a Uwchlan Township police officer whose Red
Cross training brought back to life a person who began choking in a
restaurant, then went unconscious and--by the time Officer Gale was
located (he was having dinner in another part of the restaurant)--had
stopped breathing…Katrina Volunteers Get “Promotions”…as
part of the Katrina response, we had 65 of our volunteers approved for
promotion in the national Disaster Services Human Resource (DSHR)
system, which means they will move up at least one level in the
disaster response hierarchy of service; we now have 513 DSHR-certified
volunteers in this Chapter, up from about 100 pre-Katrina, over 4100
certified volunteers (meaning they have had criminal background checks
and state DPW background checks, and have a skill set that we can
utilize, and another 3000+ special events volunteers…National
Volunteer Week Recognition…Chapter Volunteer Chair Karen
Martin co-authored an op-ed piece on Red Cross volunteers that
appeared in a number of community and local newspapers. With both
statistics and anecdotes, it makes a wonderful case for the good work
done by so many in the name of this chapter of the Red Cross and is
attached below.
CHAPTER WORK PLAN
767 Local Disaster Responses to Date…this fiscal year
(well ahead of last year’s pace), with 647 since Katrina hit ground
on August 29… Certified Training goal of 110,000 on Target…even
with all the energy that this Chapter devoted to Katrina relief, our
training division is still on target to certify 110,000 plus people
from this region in life saving techniques (CPR, water safety, etc.)
Well done, team…Strategic Plan Preparedness Steps…GE
Trailer Fleet Services agreed this week to donate five more trailers
to house 700-800 sets of disaster supplies (cots, etc.) in locations
distributed throughout the five county area. We already access five of
their trailers for local disaster response; this allows us to prepare
for even larger local disasters …382 SEPA Shelters in Place…our
emergency services team finished work on agreements for 382 potential
shelter locations throughout the five counties; this means that the
facilities are up to Red Cross standards and a signed agreement is in
place …Corporation for National Service/Americorps Partnership…with
Governor Rendell’s PennSERVE: Office of Citizen Service (I once
chaired the board there) and with the new regional director of the
federal Corporation for National Service, we are working towards a
partnership where this chapter will take the lead in training
thousands of Americorps and other volunteers in basic lifesaving and
disaster response techniques. Stay tuned!…Philadelphia Public
Schools and Red Cross Clubs Go to Next Level…Superintendent
Paul Vallas agreed to a plan crafted by Pat Ma and Betty Anne
Creighton to up Red Cross clubs to 18 next year, with the schools
taking over primary administration for three of them (that number will
increase each year). We started with five Red Cross clubs just two
years ago…Chester/Bucks Cultivation Events…John
Diament hosted a beautiful art auction and cultivation event for 75
people in the magnificent home he designed in Chester County;
Jerrianne Mecham and Barbara Caldwell brought together 20 people at
Mamma D’s Italian Kitchen in Pipersville, Bucks County.
KUDOS, ETC.
Tina Harris Receives National ARC Tiffany Award…on stage
at the national ARC 125-year celebration with the acting CEO and
current Board Chair, 28 year SEPA veteran Tina Harris became the first
person from this chapter ever to win the national ARC award for
support staff. And she earned it!!!! This is the highest honor for a
staff person (only one given a year) and a high honor for our SEPA
chapter to have one of our own so recognized. Thank you Tina! …36
Gallon Blood Donor…SEPA volunteers led by Carmel Couch
service 235 bloodmobiles every month, and last month we honored some
of our most prolific donors and volunteers at events chaired by county
board members in Montgomery (Mark Jones and Paul Delp) and Chester
(David Sorin and Bob Lail). 74 years young, 36-gallon donor Paul Olson
said that he has no intention of stopping now, and 32-gallon
donor Roger Fingerlin pretty much said the same thing. Each event was
highlighted by remarks from a mother whose child survived
life-threatening illness because Red Cross blood was available to
them. Eight year old Mathew Longobardi stood smiling on a chair next
to his mother Debra as she told his story-need I say more-and then
Matthew himself told the audience of 200 that the angels in his life
were the Red Cross people who saved it…Katrina Volunteers go
“Local”…189 of our 300 Katrina-deployed volunteers have
signed up to do “local response” as well, and most have already
had their training. We are grateful… Drexel U Thanks Katrina
Donors…a Red Cross volunteer since she was 16, Board member
Eliana Papadakis and husband and Drexel Prez Taki opened their home on
April 24 to 75 people who helped fund the Katrina effort. Volunteers
Liz White and Harry McHugh gave moving testimonials to the work of
their fellow volunteers and spoke to the spirit and strength of
survivors. Liz told an absolutely heartwarming story about a little
girl with a skinned knee who wasn’t about to let Liz help her until
her big brother whispered to her that it was “okay-she’s one of
them”. Sample program below…ES Night Shift Veteran Terry
Johnson lauded…for his work during two Katrina deployments.
The Southern Baptist Convention, who did such a terrific job helping
the Red Cross to feed millions during Katrina, specifically asked for
Terry, a retired Army Special Ops veteran, as one of two Red Cross
folks to be cross-trained with them. The training is in Alabama this
week and the focus is on incident command, partnership agreements,
conflict management and team building…Thanks to our IT
Leadership…Barry Williams and crew are installing new
servers (one of the recommendations from the technology audit Deloitte
and Touche performed gratis for us) with no interruption to our daily
services. That saves us time and money, and we are fortunate to have
the skill sets in house to complete this assignment…
NATIONAL UPDATE
Search for new CEO Continues…something over 140 resumes
have been submitted; ARC expects to name a new CEO this summer
… 125 Year Celebration…held in DC May 11-13; actor Jimmy
Smits emceed the gala dinner; Board chair Bonnie McElveen-Hunter and
acting CEO McGuire delivered keynotes; 125 year video history at the
Friday morning opening was excellent; the SEPA chapter had four
representatives; this writer took the opportunity to visit six
Congressional offices, had face to face with Senators Specter and
Santorum and two members of Congress; answered their questions and
solicited their advice about expected upcoming hearings on
non-profits-they encouraged the Red Cross to put on a face that is not
DC-centric at the hearings…Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned…a
two page checklist of action steps from the Katrina experience is
attached below; bottom line is moving from 100,000 to 500,000
immediate capacity and upgrading technology and communication
infrastructure…
