Meet James Roback, Red Cross Volunteer

     James Roback, a 19 year old volunteer at the Western New York Chapter of the American Red Cross, is not your typical 19 year old. Originally from Utica, NY, James moved to the Buffalo area after he graduated high school to attend Erie Community College for emergency management. Once he started college, he was really busy between school work and his job as a ride operator at Darien Lake. But when that seasonal job came to an end, he needed something else to do, and that is when his Red Cross journey began.

Volunteer James Roback installing smoke
alarms as part of the Home Fire Campaign

  "I looked up the Red Cross on the Internet while looking for a paid position, and saw they were in need of volunteers to help install smoke alarms," James said. He immediately applied for the volunteer position, while also applying for paid positions at other companies. Just one day later, he was offered a job at a hotel and also heard back about becoming a volunteer.

  "Instead of choosing between the hotel job and volunteering with the Red Cross, I decided I should try to do both, while still going school," James said

   At the Red Cross, James has various roles that he fulfills. As a volunteer, James in usually in the Buffalo office everyday from 9 to 5. When not serving as an office assistant, his primary job is to go out into the community and install smoke alarms as part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign. Clearly that doesn't keep him busy enough, however, because he is also currently training to become a member of the Red Cross Disaster Action Team (DAT), the volunteers that help families at the scenes of home fires and other disasters. He also helps out with the Pillowcase Project, a Disney-funded project that teaches kids in grades 3-5 about emergency preparedness.

    In just four months as a Red Cross volunteer, James has installed over 175 smoke alarms and has put in over 150 volunteer hours, while working a job and going to school.

Volunteer James Roback hard at work at the
WNY Chapter offices

  "It keeps me busy," he says. "Volunteering allows me to continuously meet new people, and I love that I'm able to provide people with one less thing to worry about, such as installing a new smoke alarm to keep their home safer." James enjoys giving back to his community, and says the stories and experiences from his time as a volunteer are something that's hard to find anywhere else. He's hoping that this will help him find a job in emergency response in the future, either with the Red Cross or another agency.

  James is just one of the many dedicated volunteers here at the Red Cross, the people who make up 90% of the workforce and fulfill our humanitarian mission. The Red Cross is always looking for new volunteers, and has opportunities to fit every skill set and schedule. You can go to redcross.org and apply to be a volunteer today.

-Jacquelyn Fricano, Communications Intern
American Red Cross, WNY Chapter

Recognizing Extraordinary Personal Actions

RED Rochester employee Gene Bernardo (center top) helped
save the live of co-worker Ed Szozda (far right in jacket), along
with Kodak Park Fire Department Members Rod Spreer
(white shirt), Mike Defendorf (far left), Patrick Doerrer
(bottom left) and Ryan Clair(bottom right)

Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. Every second counts in those situations, and the skills taught at Red Cross Health & Safety Classes can prove vital while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive.

RED Rochester Refrigeration/Water employee Gene Bernardo learned that lesson first hand on February 11^th, 2015.

Shortly after his team started their shift that morning, Gene found his coworker, Ed Szozda, unresponsive. He immediately started CPR, directed another coworker to call 911 and deployed their Department’s new automated external defibrillator (AED).

Ryan Clair, Mike Defendorf, Patrick Doerrer and Rod Speer of the Kodak Park Fire Department (KPFD) took it from there, applying medical attention until Ed could be transported to the local hospital, where successful heart surgery was completed that morning.  

Medical professionals credit Gene and the Kodak Park Fire Department with saving Ed’s life, as the first minutes of this type of situation are the most critical.

On January 15, the American Red Cross was proud to present Certificates of Extraordinary Personal Action to Gene Bernardo, Ryan Clair, Mike Defendorf, Patrick Doerrer and Rod Speer. The Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action is awarded to individuals who save or sustain a life by action that exemplifies the mission of Red Cross Preparedness and Health & Safety Services.

If you'd like to learn how to perform CPR, use an AED, or other skills that may help save the life of someone you love, visit www.redcross.org/take-a-class, or contact Cristi at 716-878-2392 or cristi.oczek@redcross.org to schedule a training at your school, business or organization.

FDNY Heeds the Call in South Carolina

Editors note: Chief Communications Officer Jay Bonafede is one of 22 Western and Central New York Region volunteers who have been have been part of the flood relief efforts in South Carolina:

FDNY DART team members assess the flood damage outside
a home on Jackson Bluff Road in Conway, S.C, where the
roadway is still partially flooded weeks after the storm. 

“Tell us what you need, we’ll get it done.”

Doug Bainton and the other members of the New York City Fire Department’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) have been getting it done as Red Cross partners for 25 years. Currently, 13 active duty and retired FDNY members are in South Carolina, where they’ve been providing relief and comfort to people after this month’s historic flooding since they arrived on October 12.

“This is kind of what we do,” Bainton says. “We help people for a living. This is just another way of doing it.”

This unique partnership began during Hurricane Hugo in 1989, when the Red Cross made a request for Spanish-speaking volunteers. Some FDNY members were able to help, and a year and a half later, they formed a response team made up entirely of firemen. Over the past 25 years, Bainton says the DART team has helped the Red Cross respond to disasters in every state in the union.

“It’s a way to give back,” Bainton said. “9/11 was obviously a big deal for us, something that will never go away. Half the world has already forgotten what happened here in South Carolina. We understand what that’s like.”

FDNY DART team members leave Red Cross relief supplies
outside a home in the Lee’s Landing neighborhood of
 Conway, S.C., where yards remain underwater weeks
 after flood waters reached their highest points.

The DART team members--who donate their FDNY vacation time to deploy to these disaster sites--have done everything from driving Emergency Response Vehicles to running warehouses during their 25 years as Red Cross response partners. On Thursday, the DART team did disaster assessment and brought clean-up supplies to residents in Lee’s Landing and other Conway, S.C. neighborhoods that remain so water-logged, one of the team’s vehicles became temporarily stuck in the mud.

“We’re often the first agencies to bring help to these people. That’s important,” Bainton said of the DART team and the Red Cross. “We get a lot of hugs. Grown men will sometimes start crying, and then you start crying. All they need is that minute, and then they’re fine. And they’re so grateful someone is helping them. That’s why we come back.” 

They’re #SCStrong, but Browns Ferry, S.C. Still Needs Help

Editors note: Chief Communications Officer Jay Bonafede is one of 22 Western and Central NY Volunteers who have been a part of the flood relief efforts in South Carolina. 

All of Robert Linnen’s furniture and carpeting are now sitting destroyed on his front lawn in Browns Ferry, Georgetown County, S.C.. You can see the water line on the end table. 

Linnen shows how high the flood waters rose on
 his Browns Ferry front porch. At one point, there was
 over a foot and a half of water inside his home.

The storm took place three weeks ago, but in the Browns Ferry neighborhood of Georgetown County, South Carolina, evidence of the historic flooding earlier this month remains readily apparent.

“We lost everything,” said Robert Linnen from his front porch on Mae Place. In the front yard lay all of his carpeting and furniture, destroyed by water from the crested Black River.

“There was a foot and a half inside the house,” he says. “Every day, it got higher and higher.”

“Never thought this could happen,” said Linnen’s neighbor, Cliff Ford. “We heard the warnings, but thought, ‘we’ll be okay’.”

Ford’s home was unaffected by the flooding, and Linnen’s family has been staying with his mother-in-law, whose home also stayed dry. However, the entire Browns Ferry neighborhood was cut off by the floods. For weeks, area residents only access to food and water was emergency supplies distributed at a local church. The area is just now becoming accessible, and Red Cross disaster assessment teams and caseworkers are beginning to go door to door to meet with the families and help them begin the long road to recovery.

District 2 Job Director Rick Schou meets with Browns Ferry
resident Robert Linnen to do disaster assessment of
his flooded home. Schou will send caseworkers to meet
with Linnen and his neighbors to help them begin the
recovery process. 

“It means a whole lot,” said Cliff. “Sometimes, people forget that we’re here. But we need help, and it’s just a blessing to have you people here and caring for us.”