Signing off

After nine years of wearing my Red Cross gear, I will be leaving the organization for a new career adventure.  It is hard to leave a place like the Red Cross with a mission that I believe in and people I love, but, oddly enough, it is really hard to leave this blog. Five years ago, we decided to start it, and hundreds of posts and one redesign later, we are reaching thousands with our quirky take on Red Cross services and safety.  Not too shabby for a little blog out of central Illinois.

Even though I will be exiting stage left, the blog will continue to live on… Because the remaining bloggers still firmly believe that we need to keep on “Saving the World… For Real”.

Thanks to all of you for your readership, and hey, you can’t say we didn’t have fun!

“This doesn’t happen here.”

“This doesn’t happen here”, is a phrase I found myself saying all the time during the latter part of November 2013.  Full disclosure – Before that time, whenever I would hear someone say that on TV, I fought the urge to roll my eyes.  I mean, come on… clearly, “things like that” do happen in your area because it did! But after November 17, 2013, I understood where that phrase came from.  Sometimes when we think we are safe and know what to expect at a certain time of year, Mother Nature can put a damper on your fantasy — and it just puts you in a temporary state of shock.  As a lifelong Central Illinois girl, an EF-4 tornado tearing through here in November definitely did that to me.

I think back on that Sunday, and I have to chuckle at what my concerns were that morning.  My biggest worry was getting to the grocery store and back before it rained.  Silly, right? For the record, I made it, but as I was putting away groceries, my Red Cross tornado app went off.  I looked out the windows of my kitchen in Morton and the sky looked terrible.  A mix of black and green, and the air seemed so thick and still.  My son, boyfriend, cat and I rode out the storm in the basement, and truly I thought, “Well, I am a good Red Crosser. App goes off, you take cover… it won’t be a big deal. It is November in Illinois. It isn’t tornado season”. But we all know now how wrong I was – tornadoes apparently don’t pay attention to the calendar.

You can imagine how scary my view of the sky was

I would rather be…

It is downright cold today, and our extended forecast doesn’t look much better…

Yeah, not a lot of fun. I would rather be in my polar fleece pj pants, under a blanket and nestled up with my cat, but alas I am not.  I asked a few people what they would rather be doing today, and here is what they said…

My Red Cross IHL Experience in Action Alley

This post comes from Shannon Vance, Bradley University student and Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Action Campaign Team Member.

If you ever want to have your art skills tested, apply to present at a conference. Suddenly all those years of coloring outside the lines and avoiding the art studio are coming back to haunt you. I’m only kidding of course, but this is house I felt when I realized two months later I would be presenting on Child Soldiers at the Midwest Regional Conference for Amnesty International.

Let me back up. The International Humanitarian Law Action Campaign (associated with the American Red Cross) on Bradley’s campus started last fall and created a simulation on child soldiers the spring I was in Denmark. This simulation reached hundreds of students and was nationally recognized by National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Bradley students stood among the few schools that were recognized at a conference in early June where they had the chance to present their activity. August comes around and two of my fellow team members and I were approached to present our campaign’s success at this Amnesty International conference. All I was thinking was “This is going to be so cool! An Amnesty International conference!!” In other words, I was geeking out.

Spooky Tales: Around Central Illinois

For the final entry of Spooky Tales, here are a few places that are reportedly haunted around central Illinois according to hauntedplaces.org.   Enjoy and have a safe and happy Halloween!

Decatur, IL – The Lincoln

This historic 1916 theater building was built atop the fire-ravaged Priest Hotel that once stood here. It is said that the ghosts of the fire victims still linger in the theater. Red, a former theater worker, is a friendly ghost here. Witnesses have heard his whispers, seen his shadowy form, and caught glimpses of him walking about the stage area. A female ghost has been reported here as well.

Saving the world one smoke detector at a time

We take life saving very seriously at the Red Cross.  Whether it is CPR training or teaching a child how to respond in a tornado, we do it all… And this month, we took our life saving efforts one step further.

The American Red Cross recently announced a new national campaign to reduce deaths and injuries from home fires by as much as 25 percent over the next five years. The campaign seeks to increase the use of smoke alarms in neighborhoods with higher numbers of home fires and to encourage all Americans to practice their fire escape plans.

The Red Cross in central Illinois has a series of smoke detector events planned, and we kicked off our fire prevention efforts last Saturday. We partnered with the Peoria fire department and the West Peoria neighborhood association to check and install smoke detectors in neighborhoods that have historically had a high risk for home fires.

Getting ready to head out

Top 10 Songs You Need in Your Life During Fire Safety Month

October! Its a month of spooky stuff, football games and, because it is National Fire Safety Month, fire prevention.  I took a very unofficial Red Cross poll of staff and volunteers across the Midwest, and they ranked the following songs as the best fire songs of all time.

10. Rooms on Fire by Stevie Nicks – “Every time that you walk in a room” in your home remember the two ways to escape in case of a fire. Everyone in the family should know this for every room in your home.

 

9. Fire by the Pointer Sisters – Fire can “have a hold on you right from the start”, so in case of a fire… Get out, stay out and call 9-1-1.

 

What does the Red Cross actually do in a disaster?

This timeline from a very talented volunteer shows the Red Cross disaster timeline perfectly.  His subject matter? The November 17th tornadoes that devastated parts of Illinois.

This is what happens when you do the ice bucket challenge at work

So I was challenged, and because my son was gone last night and my boyfriend would have thought I was insane, I decided that I would take the #IceBucketChallenge at work.  Originally, I only asked 2 people to help — one to dump and one to film — but low and behold, we had helpers coming out of the woodwork to assist. Maybe it was because they are just nice people… or possibly it was to deliver some payback??

I will let you be the judge. (Because, of course, someone else decided to film it on his phone. WARNING: His cell didn’t sync the action with the voices.)

 

That was my dear friend that thought we didn’t have enough ice in the bucket.

10 Secrets a Red Cross Volunteer Will Never Tell You

1. They love when they get a call that wakes them up in the middle of the night.

These Kansas City volunteers, including one of my favorite guys, Carl, are helping after an apartment complex fire.

2. Being “chained to a desk” is one of their favorite parts of the week.