Remembering Loma Prieta

This October marks the 20th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Often called the San Francisco earthquake, the epicenter of the quake was actually smack in the center of Santa Cruz County. The destruction of the Pacific Garden Mall and many historical landmarks, not to mention the loss of lives was catastrophic to Santa Cruz County.

AMERICAN RED CROSS LAUNCHES NEW MONTEREY BAY AREA CHAPTER

In an effort to provide enhanced service to the residents of the Monterey Bay Area, the Carmel and Monterey-San Benito Area Chapters of the American Red Cross will merge effective September 1, 2009 to create the American Red Cross, Monterey Bay Area Chapter. This newly formed Chapter will also work closely with the Santa Cruz County Chapter with the goal of consolidating functions across the three Counties to facilitate quality service delivery for these communities.

What’s better than Strawberry Shortcake?

Come support your Red Cross and get all sugared up on one of Santa Cruz County’s most popular Red Crops (see what i did there?).

Silly Vampires, Blood is for the Red Cross!

Happy Friday, everyone.  This PSA wasn’t produced by the Red Cross, but boy is it entertaining.  And it includes a vampire, which I hear is quite the rage these days.  Check it out… and if you get a chance, search “Red Cross” on YouTube.  There are tons of awesome videos from our chapters around the [...]

Kitteh has a smart.

This kitty has it half right.
To be “Preparedness Geek Specific,” kitty should:

DROP to the ground (before the earthquake drops you!),
Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.

But, we still give the little guy props for covering his head, not running outside, AND for performing [...]

Explosions!

Back in my day (and place), every town had sponsored firework displays on the 4th of July. Not so in Santa Cruz County. Scotts Valley has a show which is a big hit for families – and it was canceled last year, so you can bet it will be packed with onlookers this year. But, lets be frank… there are those that aren’t down with the SV crowd. You know who you are… you’re going down to the beach, aren’t ya?

What (else) we do.

When people think about the Red Cross, they generally think of only one thing at a time. Like Blood donations, or disaster relief. But we do SO MUCH MORE than that.

Loma Preita, 20 years later

I wasn’t here in 1989. In fact, I was 2200 miles away from here. I was also far too preoccupied with My Little Ponies to watch the national news or the World Series (I was 8). Hence, I didn’t even know that it had happened. But in October of 1989, this town that I’ve come to call home was shaken to its very core.

“Resolved, I will no longer be a sink-easy”

I’m sure that the day will come when people look back on our primitive blogging and say, “I can’t believe people used to talk that way!” Of course, they’ll say it in a crazy futuristic language.

Santa Barbara Fire Response: A volunteer’s perspective

One of our volunteers, Mr. Bill Fitler, just got back from working the wildfire relief down in Santa Barbara. Bill is a great volunteer and board member, he goes to almost every disaster and works in leadership roles at the shelters. AND, Bill does all of this with a relative calm. As you can imagine, this is a helpful trait to have during a disaster response.

During his time in Santa Barbara, Bill wrote this entry on his Facebook page. It’s an awesome look into the life of a Red Cross volunteer. Thanks for sharing, Bill!