What a finish to 2009 and what a start for 2010! We’ve seen record-breaking winter storms and we opened three public emergency shelters due to the over 16,000 storm-caused power outages across Henderson County. On January 12th, we saw disasters hit hard in Haiti and then, on February 27th, in Chile as earthquakes literally crumbled communities. This Red Cross chapter has sent nearly $40,000 to those international responses. During the same time period, we responded to destructive disasters affecting 25 of our Henderson County neighbors as fires destroyed homes and flooding displaced families. We provided hotel rooms, funds for immediate clothing and food needs, and recovery planning and support.

Want to make a difference in our community and world? Hundreds of local people have joined the chapter to do just that. Those local shelters and fire responses were staffed by local Red Cross volunteers. The nearly $40,000 we’ve sent to the international disasters was brought or sent to our office by local supporters and designated for those relief efforts. Volunteers conduct safety training, work blood drives, assist military families in times of crisis and even help with fundraising. “Whoa, Mike,” you might say. “We want to give of ourselves to make a difference, but we’re not fundraisers,” you might be thinking. But those funds really make our work possible. As I write this we have a $19,800 deficit on our $315,000 annual budget. We receive no government funding and local chapters are not funded by the American Red Cross. We generate close to 50% of our funds through fees and operations (primarily training classes and health screening labs). The United Way provides about 17% of our funds. The balance is where you can come in. We depend upon public support for over 30% of our funding! Many of you have made annual donations, and we appreciate them, but as our expenses continue to increase (from direct disaster assistance to utilities and insurance), we must increase our income.

This winter, we’ve seen heroic actions from our community to contribute to the Haitian disaster. During April, we’re providing our community the opportunity to be a Hero for the local Red Cross by helping you conduct your own Red Cross fundraising campaigns. Maybe a club, school or business could raffle off a gift certificate to raise money for the chapter. Or a group might hold a car wash or perhaps a spaghetti or hot dog dinner. We’ve heard of schools and businesses having a “dress down” or “hat” day and raising money for the privilege of breaking the dress code that day. If you can imagine it (and it is legal and won’t totally embarrass either of us!) you can do it and be a Hero of the Red Cross. If you come up with a plan to raise $1,000 during the month of April, we’ll include you in the media promotion including a newspaper advertisement to kick it off. Today, more than ever, we need heroes. Won’t you be our Hero and help us follow the record-breaking disasters with a much needed, record-breaking Heroes campaign? I hope to hear from you…mikew@hcredcross.net Thanks!

Mike Williams
Executive Director

Come join us for our 4th Annual Red Cross Runway presented by Shelley’s Jewelry. This fashion show will be held on March 27, 2010 at the Hendersonville Country Club and will include brunch. The fun begins at 11:30am and and will keep you smiling until 2:00pm. This year’s Spring fashions will be provided by The Sanctuary, Elite Repeats Boutique and Mast General Store. Our models will be many of Henderson County’s well known community leaders. All fashion show attendees will receive a $25 gift card to Shelley’s Jewelry and one lucky person will anonymously be given a card worth $500! Shelley’s Jewelry has also provided a spectacular gift for the raffle at the event-you will have an opportunity to buy tickets to win a Hearts on Fire Diamond Pendant valued over $2,800 along with other exciting surprises! Don’t miss the excitement. Buy your ticket today!

Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door or $350 for a table of 10 reserved seats and can be purchased at the Red Cross office, by calling 693-5605, www.hcredcross.org, or at the Henderson County Visitors Center. All proceeds benefit the Henderson County Chapter. Hope to see you there!

For any questions please call Shelby at 693-5605.

Fletcher Elementary School decided to do a fundraiser for the for the people of Haiti. They kicked off the week by showing footage of a story WLOS aired about the people of Haiti about 10 or 15 years ago. The news segment was called Mission Haiti. Then teachers gave kids some background knowledge about Haiti - location, poverty level, language spoken, etc. and discussed earthquakes and what recently happened with the earthquake in Haiti. Students in Mrs. Gabbard's class headed up the efforts by making a video segment, that was shown to all the students, about the need for help. Mrs. Gabbard's students then challenged the rest of the students to ask parents for extra chores in order to earn money to donate to the Red Cross efforts in Haiti. The students as well as parents became very involved and were able to raise over $2800, which was proudly presented to our Administrative Director, Shelby Lands. The efforts of the Fletcher staff, children and parents were remarkable. Many parents shared stories about how their children did extra chores, went through furniture to find loose change and even sacrificed allowances or piggy bank savings. Stories repeatedly showed how parents were touched by the compassion and hard work they witnessed in their children. One Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Durrant, even let her students earn pennies to donate by reading extra books, cleaning areas around the room, working on extra assignments, etc... After earning hundreds of pennies, these students traded them for dollars, which they proudly donated to the cause. Teachers truly believe that through this schoolwide project, the students learned that anyone in the world, big or small, can make a difference if they try.

How do you go about celebrating Red Cross Month with a community? Well the Red Cross, regionally, plans a free CPR class one Saturday during the month. Last year we trained 89 people on CPR Saturday in Henderson County and nearly 400 were trained regionally. This year we have gotten very ambitious and plan to teach nearly 300 here in Henderson County. With the help of our sponsor, Pardee Hospital, we will be able to have 4 class locations. We are also able to add an Infant/Child CPR class as well as a Spanish language Adult CPR class. As you can imagine, the logistics of having that many people taking CPR in one day is rather daunting. Location sponsors are Mountain 1st Bank and Trust, the YMCA of Henderson County, Pardee Health Education Center and the Fletcher Library.

Instructors from all over the county volunteer for the day to insure a quality class for all. In addition to Red Cross Instructors, chapter volunteers will help the participants register, correct tests, pass out cards and promote the Red Cross to others. If you have some time on March 13, we’d love to have you volunteer to help. We also need volunteers on Friday March 12, to distribute the equipment and supplies.

Click here for more information

When snow and ice fall, and the power goes out, who you gonna call? The Red Cross emergency shelter! Already this year our volunteer disaster shelter teams have provided seven nights of community emergency shelter. Led by volunteer Shelter Manager, Yolanda Nedwed, our shelters are coordinated through the Henderson County Emergency Manager to ensure that our community has safe shelter, hot food and personal needs (like hot showers) in the event of a widespread disaster event. We actually had a couple of ladies who braved the cold at home with extra blankets and gas heat, but came in to our shelter to wash their hair! Our partnerships with the Department of Social Services and Health Department are also key to these sheltering events.

County Emergency Manager, Rocky Hyder, wrote in a shelter follow-up letter, “The Henderson County Chapter of the American Red Cross is an excellent example of an organization that is dedicated to the well being of our community and we are deeply grateful for your efforts.” Thank you to all of our disaster services volunteers for your commitment to our mission of providing relief to victims of disasters and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. You can see more information on our website: www.hcredcross.org.

Since December 12, we have also responded to 10 individual disaster incidents affecting 25 community members, including 7 children. Thank you donors and sponsors as well for making it all possible!

Plans are already underway for this year’s largest blood drive, Operation Blood Drive, sponsored by WLOS-TV and held at Grace Lutheran Church on Thursday, June 24 during the hours of 7am to 6pm. Because we’ve had so many blood drives cancelled or poorly attended due to our winter weather, we need to make sure that this drive is the most successful it has ever been. We will be inviting the mascots from all of our high schools and the Flat Rock Playhouse Youth Theatre Group to entertain our donors during the donation process. Also, there will be a competition of local bankers to see which bank can donate the most blood. (Thanks to Bob MacDonald, board member and blood donor, for your assistance.) Our canteen refreshments will once again be superb. And the best part, each unit donated potentially saves 3 lives! Our goal is to collect a minimum of 300 units.

If you’re a blood donor, please mark this day on your calendar. The appointment schedule will be available our office and online no later than May 24.
If you’re a volunteer and would like to assist, we have several opportunities:
 Mass mailing to former Operation Blood Drive donors
March 22- 26 to stuff and seal envelopes.
 Follow-Up Phone Calls for Canteen
May 10 – 14 to call food vendors, who have received a request from me, confirming their donations. Can be done at home.
 Appointment Manager
May 24 - June 23 to make sure that online appointments and office appointments match.
 Tele-Recruitment Party
Saturday, June 12; 10am – 2pm to make phone calls to previous donors asking them to donate again (script and contacts provided). Lunch will be served.
 Operation Blood Drive
Wednesday, June 23; afternoon to help set-up and decorate.
 Thursday, June 24; 2 shifts: 6:15am – 12:30pm AND 12:15pm – 6:30pm
Greeters/Registration (2), photographer, my assistant, Donor Flow managers (2)

Please email me at bethg@hcredcross.net for further details. Thanks!
--Beth Golden, blood services director

Have you often thought about taking a CPR class but are reluctant to spend the money or the 4 and a half hours to take the class. The Red Cross is now offering a CPR MADE SIMPLE class that teaches the basic skills of Adult CPR in one hour. This is a non-certification class so its just for your knowledge. If you belong to a church or other group that would like to have this one hour class scheduled in the future, contact Andrea at 693-5605. The cost is $10 per person and it only takes one hour. Isn’t one hour worth having the ability to save a life?