Looking for Pictures of Santa Cruz!

We are working on a fabulous new website for our chapter and need some donated pictures of Santa Cruz!  If you’re a professional photographer or just have some awesome shots, please let us know!  We will credit your name on the site if your photo is used.

Contact Lindsay at: lsegersin@sccredcross.org

National Volunteer Week

(from redcross.org)

The week of April 27 to May 3 marks National Volunteer Week, a time to celebrate those who make a difference in their communities and inspire others to discover their power to be agents for social change. National Volunteer Week has been recognized every year since 1974, when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order to establish the week as an annual celebration of volunteering

As the nation’s largest volunteer organization, the American Red Cross is a leader in providing meaningful opportunities for people from all walks of life to help those in need. The Red Cross depends on volunteers to provide relief to victims of disaster, donate blood for those facing medical emergencies, teach lifesaving skills such as first aid and water safety, and respond to calls for assistance from our sister societies in other nations.

If you’d like to make a difference, contact the Santa Cruz County Chapter at 831-462-2881 or visit our website, www.sccredcross.org.

Disaster Drill to be held May 17, Community Members Needed!

On Saturday, May 17 from 9am-2pm the Santa Cruz County Chapter of the American Red Cross will host a disaster drill.

During the drill, emergency service volunteers will practice the skills they need during disaster:

 

– opening up a shelter for people displaced by the disaster

– preparing a meal for a large group

– providing for medical and mental health needs

– issuing client assistance

 

We need community members who are willing to act as our disaster victims. Lunch will be provided. This is a great chance to see what the American Red Cross of Santa Cruz County can do if our community is struck by a disaster. Please join us!

If you’re interested in helping or have any questions, please call us at 831-462-2881 x20.

Santa Cruz Red Cross provides help to powerless

The Santa Cruz County Chapter has been providing a canteen service to those affected by the power outages caused by the massive storm that recently barreled through Santa Cruz County. During a canteen service, Red Cross volunteers drive to affected neighborhoods and distribute food, beverages and other goods. This canteen service includes coffee and tea, hot soup and blankets. Meals are served from the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), which is clearly identified as an American Red Cross vehicle. Brewed coffee and hot water for tea have been donated by Peet’s Coffee and Tea of Santa Cruz and Starbucks of Scotts Valley.

The chapter is also providing Counseling to those who request it, as well as help with necessary medical needs that have been interrupted by the power outage.

We are asking our community for monetary donations at this time, as our budget has been hard hit by a record number of home fires this year in Santa Cruz County. A donation to the Santa Cruz County Chapter of the American Red Cross will stay in Santa Cruz County and help your local chapter respond to local emergencies year round, from single home fires to massive disasters that affect the entire community. The American Red Cross, Santa Cruz County Chapter is not a government agency, nor do we receive our funding from National Red Cross. We could not perform our lifesaving services if not for the generosity of the people of Santa Cruz County.

Remember, your Red Cross is always available to answer any questions that you may have. Please call us at 831-462-2881.

Let us Wrap Your Gifts at the Capitola Mall!

 

Holiday Gift Wrapping at Capitola Mall

 

 

Now through Christmas Eve!

 

 

Open 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

 

(Open times are subject to change.)

 

Located just outside the food court, next to Cinnabon.

 

 

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the mall

I was running like crazy looking for a holiday haul.

I had promised myself to shop early this year

But I’d busy been watching specials about lighted-nosed deer.

So there I was running panicked through the stores

When I realized something I’d not thought of before

“These gifts must be wrapped!” I yelled, maybe too loud

As into the Santa Cruz Shoe Company I am no longer allowed.

Away toward my car I flew like a flash,

Wondering where I would find tape, wrapping paper… more cash!?

…and I haven’t eaten all day in my rush…

Then I saw a familiar sign of hope, and all around fell a hush.

“The American Red Cross will wrap my presents!” I said with a sigh,

They’ll do it while I rest with coffee and pie!

They’ll do it with all kinds of ribbons and bows!

They’ll do it and I can start speaking in prose!

For just a donation to help those in need

A donation to your local chapter, indeed

the Red Cross will wrap every present in sight

Happy Holidays to you, Santa Cruz, and to all a Good Night!

 

25 Santa Cruz County volunteers called to help in So. Cal.

Copyright American Red Cross

25 of our disaster relief volunteers (Including 2 Board Members, 2 Mental Health Professionals, 4 Registered Nurses, 16 Shelter and Mass Feeding Workers and 1 Mass Care Bulk Distribution Specialist) have been called to help with the relief operations in Southern California, and that number continues to grow. Volunteers deployed so far are:

Rick Daniel, Anita Salem, Ray and Joy LeClair, John E. Schultz, Suzanne Carlton, Norman Turner, Janet Packer, Ralph Reyes, Armando Arias, Lee Yamada, Clyta Amadeo, Carmen Mulholand, Virginia Ledesma, Wendy Ostrow, Douglas Anderson, Cherry Roberts, Steve Hibbett, Paula Zabbattini, Susan Champness, Kenneth Llacera, Ellen Dellamora, Sharon Hightower, James Hobbs, Kate McCarthy-Lewis

Here is a snapshot of Red Cross services as of midnight, Tuesday:

• The Red Cross and its partners have opened nearly two dozen shelters across the region.
• 40 trucks full of supplies have arrived, bringing thousands of cots, blankets, toiletry kits and
other needed items.
• 50 Mobile feeding vehicles have arrived with 25 more en route.
• Cleanup supplies are also en route. Supplies include rakes, shovels and other useful
equipment to help with cleanup in the affected communities.
• A large feeding kitchen will open today at Petco Field to support the shelters, mobile feeding
and the feeding to the emergency workers.
• The local chapters have trained more than 1500 local volunteers to help with the effort.
• The national Red Cross has moved nearly 2000 additional workers to the area to help with
feeding and sheltering efforts.

If you have any questions about the local response to this disaster, please feel free to give us a call at 831- 462-2881.

Copyright American Red Cross

Watsonville Service Center Opens!

Thanks to an army of individuals and local businesses, the Watsonville Service Center is now open. We had a blast sharing our office space yesterday at our Ribbon Cutting Event. Four high school students even showed up to become volunteers for their service hours!

Pictured above are Board Chairman and Scotts Valley City Councilman Cliff Barrett, Board Member and Watsonville City Councilman Antonio Rivas, Immediate Past Board Chair Joyce Anderson, CEO Donna Jones, Emergency Response Vehicle Volunteer Driver Jerry Finney and Volunteer Clyta Amadeo.

The Watsonville Service Center would not have been possible if not for the efforts of Antonio Rivas. The Santa Cruz County Chapter extends it’s heartfelt gratitude for all of his hard work!

Thank you again to everyone who made the opening of this office possible. We are thrilled to have the improved ability to serve the city of Watsonville!

Midwest Flood Pictures, Continued

Here are more pictures that Rick shot:

By Rick Daniels

Damage to a living room.

By Rick Daniels
Damage to a Kitchen. The part of the wall that has been cut away denotes the water level at its highest.

By Rick Daniels

Pictures from the Midwest Floods

Rick Daniels, one of our amazing Disaster Relief Volunteers, brought these pictures back with him from the flood relief effort in Rochester, Minnesota.

By Rick Daniels

Two bird feeders hang above the waterline in a Rochester, MN backyard.

By Rick Daniels

Powerful flood waters picked up this home and moved it on to nearby railroad tracks.

By Rick Daniels

A road in Rochester, MN is blocked by flood waters.

10 disaster relief volunteers from Santa Cruz County currently deployed to the Midwest

We currently have the following volunteers deployed to the flood relief effort in the Midwest:

Clyta Amadeo (Santa Cruz) Caseworker
Janet Packer (Aptos) Caseworker
Ralph Reyes (Scotts Valley) Caseworker
Steve Mouw (Aptos) Damage Assessment
Rick Daniel (Santa Cruz) Caseworker
Bonnie Faraola (Santa Cruz) Caseworker
David Allison (Freedom) Caseworker
Stacey Stein (Aptos) Caseworker
Beth Bloom (Aptos) Caseworker
Jon Butah (Watsonville) Shelter Worker

For a few of these volunteers, this is their first disaster relief operation with us.  We wish them luck and hope that all is going well.

 

If you would like to join our dedicated disaster relief team, please contact Patsy Hernandez, Emergency Services Officer.  She will guide you though the training necessary to help people in a time of great loss, such as the flooding in the Midwest.  You can reach her at 831-462-2881  x16   or email her at phernandez@sccredcross.org.