Volunteers Trained and 500 Disaster Kits Given to Seniors in San Diego

In January the San Diego California Safe Corps (CSC) members, Mariana and Dora, mentored and trained 17 volunteers at the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center. The CSC members taught the seniors and staff at the Senior and Wellness Center how to give the American Red Cross CDE (Community Disaster Education) presentation. The training the volunteers received at the center allows the volunteers to go out into their community and teach their fellow senior citizens how to prepare for a disaster.

Through their work with the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center the members were also able to give out 500 disaster preparedness kits to fixed income seniors. The kits included backpacks, disaster radios, and disaster tubes.

CSC Director Guest Speaks on NHQ Conference Call

by Brian McConnell


At the beginning of December I was approached by Patricia Frustace, Executive Director Grants Office and Organizational Account Management for the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross to speak on the NHQ Grants Management Conference Call on January 18, 2011. The NHQ Grants Management Conference Call is a forum that allows NHQ and chapters from across the nation a place to share their experience with grants (CNCS grants included). Patricia asked me to speak about the California Safe Corps program’s grant matching fund structure. I was honored by this invitation, and in spirit of the One Red Cross movement I gladly accepted the invitation.

Speaking on this conference call is just one example of the work that other Red Cross employees and I have been doing to improve the service and experience for AmeriCorps members serving with the American Red Cross. I have been working with Patricia and other Red Cross AmeriCorps Directors from chapters around the nation since October. I know the information, forms and processes we are sharing are improving the quality and service of the American Red Cross. The group is working hard to ensure that the American Red Cross is fully utilizing the 360 AmeriCorps Members (99 VISTA, 42 AmeriCorps National and 219 AmeriCorps State members) serving in 21 states at over 60 chapters across the nation.

LA Disaster Relief in January

by: Becca Brudzynski


In January, California Safe Corps (CSC) members worked to uphold the The American Red Cross mission to help people affected by disaster. Members of CSC participated in the Disaster Action Team by training to respond to home fires and assist with casework. Thirty-eight clients were contacted by CSC members interested in following up, on the progression of the clients, since receiving aid from The Los Angeles American Red Cross. Furthermore, Members collectively responded to five home fires and helped twenty-six people by providing temporary relief to basic needs like food, shelter, and comfort this month.

Several children received comfort kits with teddy bears, tooth brushes, and activities this month. The DAT team proactively helped a family of nine, seven children and two adults, after a fire devastated their home in Los Angeles. The workers in the Emergency Operations Center and the California Safe Corps members plan to invite the children affected by the fire to a Disaster Awareness Puppet Show. California Safe Corps and The Red Cross Youth Services Department will be holding many educational shows for youth about earthquake and fire safety all around the city of Los Angeles this year.

In addition, two members of the Los Angeles Safe Corps program, Becky Brudzynski and Felicia Matz, and one member from the Santa Monica Safe Corps, Jonathan Quintana, worked with Red Cross disaster relief volunteers in Silverado, California this January. The Silverado community has been devastated by several dangerous mudslides after heavy rain. Homes were completely destroyed. Several homes that received minor and major damage became the subject of a community wide project which attracted volunteers from all around Southern California. CSC members worked alongside volunteer church groups and other Red Cross volunteers to shovel mud from homes, carry buckets, retrieve personal items, carefully handle glass and splintered wood with nails, and aid the families affected by the disaster in salvaging their homes.

Overall, the California Safe Corps members are on the right track to helping people in the Southern California area recover from disasters. The CSC members are currently training to become disaster instructors by co-teaching disaster overview courses to the community. In addition, the members are taking supervisory disaster courses to become strong leaders for when the BIG one (an earthquake) hits the Southern Californian region. Members of CSC will be prepared to work with clients by providing relief and upholding the Red Crosses mission; to provide relief to victims of disaster, and upholding the seven Red Cross principles; Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality.

A Disaster Action Team Call in San Martin

On January 10, the Silicon Valley Chapter dispatcher on duty, Barbara Wood received a call from Cal Fire at around 1 pm. A fire had occurred the night before with clients who needed Red Cross assistance.

This DAT call soon became complicated, as we discovered it involved five families and 19 individuals, none of whom spoke English. We opened a shelter (which was used only as a service center when a church group offered housing to some of the clients and insurance paid for lodging for two other families). We received assistance from the County with Spanish translators. In addition, our DAT Captain John Snyder followed one of the clients to the feed store and purchased feed (not found in the DAT manual), for the clients' 20 chickens, 2 ducks, 9 sheep, 6 goats and a dog whose food had been destroyed. Scott Ilse brought food for the families and the DAT responders at the service center.

It was not your everyday DAT call, but one that ended with everyone warm and dry and with a bed for the night! Happily, all of the clients were taken care of under the great care provided by John Snyder, Gordon Sakai and two new California Safe Corps AmeriCorps members, Autumn Kresha and Amel Ali. Our Mass Care Crew, Karl Matzke, Mo Ghandehari, and Tom Busk, pitched in and assisted as well. Client caseworkers followed up during the week with all of the families - with Anita Moser contacting most of them in Spanish. Disaster Health Services also assisted in helping some of the families.

Santa Monica MLK Day

by Jean Milan

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Santa Monica Chapter Safe Corps Crew had a very rewarding experience at our Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. MLK’s message was one of justice, peace, and brotherhood. That spirit was alive during our day of service at the Rosemont Elementary School in L.A. on January 17, 2011. Jun Kim, Jonathan Quintana and myself of the Santa Monica Chapter, along with John Vidaurrazaga from the West Los Angeles Chapter, were able to volunteer through L.A. Works, an organization that gets the community involved in hands-on service projects throughout the Los Angeles area. We signed up to help restore the Rosemont Elementary School. Three-hundred and thirty people were registered and expected to volunteer. When we arrived, it was obvious right away that the amount of people in attendance greatly exceeded this expected number. What was supposed to be a couple hundred volunteers turned out to be nearly 1,400 volunteers. We were all very impressed with the enthusiasm everyone brought to this event.

Many were painting murals, building gardens, creating a new game room and teacher lounge, cleaning and organizing storage spaces, and much more. We were part of the crew organizing storage space and were placed in a group including another AmeriCorps program – The National Civilian Community Corps. We were fortunate to do service alongside some fellow AmeriCorps members and to learn about their program and how they serve the west coast. We made some new friends and have kept in touch with them.

The transformation of the school within only four hours was pretty impressive. The L.A. Works staff commented in a follow-up e-mail, saying that the work the volunteers did that day “brought fresh color and exciting energy to this wonderful campus community.” What an extremely rewarding experience! It was truly wonderful to see how a community of people can come together to accomplish a positive goal.

Humboldt CSC work with Youth

On Saturday January 8th, California Safe Corps Members Wayne Martins and Philip Anderson launched the first ever youth group for the Humboldt County Chapter of The American Red Cross.

On January 17th for MLK Day the youth group volunteered their services at the Humboldt Wildlife Center in Arcata. The youth group graveled a driveway, witnessed a medical procedure on a bird, helped with animal enclosures and sorted through live bird food. The youth group not only learned the value of community service but also the importance of wildlife conservation. Please visit our youth groups Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Humboldt-Red-Cross-Youth-Group/143483865710542?v=info

San Gabriel Pomona Valley CSC members revitalize Youth Corps program

The San Gabriel Pomona Valley Youth Corps, once an active and energetic program comprised of 22 Red Cross clubs has had no presence in the SGPV chapter for about a year and a half. Under the supervision of Bee Kong and with the help of many people at the SGPV chapter, CSC member Lindsay Youngquist has been working on making contact with the youth clubs again and offering her support to them as the new youth advisor for the chapter. With the help of the YFAST instructor Richard Stewart, she managed to get 18 youth club members from Temple City HS and El Monte HS to come out to the chapter to participate in an Emergency Kit Assembly day. Lindsay is also working on establishing bi-monthly meetings at the SGPV chapter for the youth clubs so that they can feel support from the chapter and from other clubs as well. The first meeting was held on Tuesday February 1st and had a turn out of four clubs. Lindsay will continue to reach out to the youth clubs with the hope of restoring the energy and activity that the program once had.

OC CSC MLK Day

by Monique Phan


For MLK Service Day, the Orange County CSC members assembled fruit and vegetable packets for local elementary schools in order to promote healthy diets. During our time at OneOC’s food bank, we met other AmeriCorps members in Orange County and we learned about their service programs. In January, I established a monthly preparedness course with a local women’s shelter as part of my special project. I look forward to the first class in February.

Silicon Valley MLK Day

by Sarah Snyder


There is never a dull day in the lives of the Silicon Valley Chapter California Safe Corps members Sarah Snyder, Autumn Kresha, Crisanta Garcia, Pooja Trivedi, and Amel Ali. While they spend most of their day’s base jumping to ground zero of local disasters, saving cats from burning building and babies from trees they got up but can’t seem to get down, they slowed down the pace to educate the Silicon Valley youth club members for their first Service Day of 2011 on Martin Luther King Day.

House fires are devastating, and in many cases, easily preventable. Many are the result of carelessness: a candle left lit, a stove burner unattended, a forgotten blanket tossed over a space heater. In light of the increase in house fires seen in Santa Clara County in the last two years, the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter’s youth services and CSC AmeriCorps put on a day of fire safety education and awareness. Forty-five middle and high school students woke up early on their day off and showed up for the event, which began with a 9:00am disaster presentation by Red Cross club student officers. Local firefighters were invited to talk about fire safety and tour the clubs around the response vehicles. All participants were then broken down into groups, given packages of fire safety door hangers, and sent out to different neighborhoods to discuss this important issue with members of our community. We distributed 1000 door hangers total and enjoyed hitting the sidewalks and physically starting the conversation with our neighbors in San Jose.

San Diego CSC MLK Day

On Monday, January 17, 2011 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day San Diego CSC members Mariana and Dora canvassed door to door with a non-profit agency in Chula Vista called PROMOTORAS. The PROMOTORAS agency advocates to the residents of Chula Vista on health and safety issues. The CSC members helped to give fire safety door hangers and American Red Cross flyers to the residents and gave helpful advice on how to prepare themselves to prevent a home fire. The community is predominantly fixed income and Spanish-Speaking in the South Bay. It was a great experience for us to canvass with the PROMOTORAS group and to give advice to the residents of Chula Vista on how to become prepared to prevent a home fire.