The Second Annual Youth Power was on Saturday, December 8th, from 8:30 to 5pm. 62 middle schoolstudents, from Crittenden Middle School in Mountain View, participated in an interactive day comprised of fun disaster preparedness workshops in the morning and first aid training in the afternoon.
Michelle Roman, Safe Corps member serving at the American Red Cross Palo Alto Area Chapter, was deployed to the San Diego wildfires from October 25 to November 10, 2007. During her time there she worked in shelter operations, mobile feeding, disaster assesment, and where ever else she was needed.
One great moment during her deployment came during her first mobile feeding route to a mobile home park. Some clients spoke Spanish and so as a Spanish speaker, she was able to help her cohorts in understanding these clients’ needs. Michelle felt like she was able to offer her services to both my ARC colleagues, as well as to the clients. It was invigorating to have the supplies and tools necessary for this operation. She was excited by the event of having a human necessity, food, and being able to provide it to those in need of it.
Michelle's experience in San Diego was informational, exciting, challenging and satisfying. She was introduced to the difficulties that a disaster poses, such as organizational issues. She also was able to see first hand how the American Red Cross responds to major disasters, recruiting ARCV throughout the United States and trying to mobilize all its volunteers. Michelle saw how a shelter, headquarters, a kitchen and ERVs were set up and how they all function. The excitement came when she made that human connection with the clients, and when she was approached by people in the general public who recognized her as an ARC volunteer from my official apparel and they wanted to their gratitude for the work we do. It was a challenge to be amongst people with different personalities but very educational at the same time. From her ARC team, she learned how to be a little more assertive and how to focus on the moment. Through the clients and their experiences, Michelle saw how important it is to be prepared as much as possible, and yet comforting to know that ARC is there to help out. Michelle was given the gift of new friends, who she had the honor of working along side of and learning from; as well as the gift of seeing hope revived in those who had been devastated by their loss.
Service learning was the theme of the Eureka High School Agency Fair on Tuesday. Nearly every one of the approximately 1,700 students enrolled at EHS passed through the fair at some point on Tuesday, learning about and signing up for volunteer opportunities at local agencies that sparked their interest.
The American Red Cross, for example, signed students up for leadership opportunities like helping organize some of the local chapter’s big events. Shawn Bawden, an AmeriCorps member serving at the Red Cross, said the organization is looking for a student to help put on communitywide CPR Saturdays, where people interested in learning CPR are trained, and the agency’s annual “Heroes” dinner, which honors local community residents.
Learning about earthquake preparedness can be instructive and entertaining. Just ask the 80 children at Cypress I Preschool in East Los Angeles who learned important safety tips from a Sesame Street puppet show acted by the chapter’s California Safe Corps (AmeriCorps) members.
Samantha Bowles, Zara Bott-Goins, Elda Kong, Jasmine Tucker, Candace Bolden and Andrea Palato are spending 10 months at the chapter as Americorps volunteers helping educate underserved communities about disaster preparation, prevention, and response.
The puppet show is one of the many educational tools the team uses to reach out to children to provide early exposure to earthquake safety. With the help of Elmo, Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, the AmeriCorps members explain the importance of finding safety spots, holding earthquake drills and staying calm.
Anna Martinez, the school’s director, said the free show filled with valuable lessons was well-received by the children and staff. Cypress I Preschool is a Kedren Head Start state preschool for working and income-eligible parents in Los Angeles.
What is the best way to teach Community Disaster Education to the public? How about teachable moment? Well that’s what Luis got when doing a Be Red Cross Ready presentation. About 15 neighbors on a two-block stretch of Ramona Street in Palo Alto got more than they bargained for when they attended the disaster-preparedness class Tuesday evening.
A moderate earthquake (5.6 magnitude) shook up the meeting at 8:04 p.m. "The instructor (Luis) was very cool and told us all to get on the floor and cover our heads," resident Beth Bunnenberg said. "And we really paid attention the rest of the meeting." Luis said that the group asked if he had planned the quake--and he joked that he had made some calls. Luis also turned on the portable radio in the disaster supplies kit to listen for news and information about the quake and any potential instructions. Now that group wants to take CPR and First Aid. What a story! Check out the article about Luis online:
In the News:
In response to the ferocious Southern California wildfires, the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles, American Red Cross of Ventura County, and American Red Cross of Santa Monica in collaboration with the California Safe Corps program have opened five shelters, provided food and emotional support to people displaced by the Malibu Canyon and Agua Dulce Buckweed fires.
Since Sunday, Oct. 21, the chapter has provided: overnight shelter to more than 300 people at five shelters, two in Malibu and three in Santa Clarita; more than 13,000 meals and snacks to evacuees, as well as to emergency response personnel; and more than 100 Red Cross personnel to assist at shelters, provide mobile canteen feeding, and other disaster response duties. Approximately 3,500 people were registered overnight Monday in Red Cross shelters in San Diego, with more people outside accessing Red Cross services.
The Safe Corps members have been working at shelters and providing mobile canteen feeding in 12 hour interval shifts throughout the day and night. There are a total of 11 members from the three chapters who are providing disaster relief assistance to the families affected by the Los Angeles/Ventura County Fires. The remaining 9 members from the Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Humboldt Red Cross Chapters have been deployed to assist with the San Diego Wildfires and will be on deployment for a minimum of two weeks.
