Central New York Real Heroes Breakfast

by Karin Schneider

'Tis the season for the American Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast! Each year, American Red Cross chapters across the region honor local community members who went above and beyond in different categories of humanitarian accomplishment. I had the exciting opportunity to attend the 21st Annual Central New York Real Heroes Breakfast on Dec. 4 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, where staff and volunteers from our local chapter managed to turn the large ballroom into a warm and elegant dining environment. 

Karin Schneider, John Walsh
and Brian Johnson of Dannible & McKee LLP 

As a new Disaster Action Team volunteer, I was asked to carry the banner announcing the Workplace Safety honoree, John Walsh.  During John's career as manager of American Airlines at Hancock International Airport, he became the leading force of the airport's Airline Response Plan in case of an accident. I really enjoyed talking to him, and learned interesting insights about airline emergency responses. 

All the honorees were paraded out with the category's corporate sponsor and banner holder before breakfast was served.  After the meal, each honoree was called to the podium where the sponsor spoke a few words about the honoree, and a video vignette was shown providing a visual story of his or her accomplishment.  

Alberto Bianchetti and "RJ" Drager 

One of my favorite sponsor presenters was Alberto Bianchetti from National Grid who presented the Youth Good Samaritan award to 7-year-old Robert James"RJ" Drager, who saved his friend from drowning. Alberto recited facts about RJ that he had learned from previous conversations ranging from the pet dog to favorite activities, and confirmed each fact with RJ, who always responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!" One couldn't help but to smile the entire time.

Overall, the event left me with warm and happy feelings.  It was reassuring to be reminded that good and caring citizens live in our community, not only by the honorees, but by the CNY Chapter of the American Red Cross and corporate sponsors of the event. I'm looking forward to next year!

2019 Central New York Real Heroes and Sponsors 

Karin Schneider is a volunteer with the American Red Cross of Central New York. 

Volunteerism: Above & Beyond

I spotted a whole box of bagels at the kitchen on Friday!

“Doug is here!” said by one staff member at the Central New York Chapter. The “anonymous” guy (at least he thinks he is) is Doug North, who was here at the Syracuse office attending a meeting for the launch of Sound the Alarm and he brought us bagels like he often does.

Today, I am going to introduce you to Doug North, our amazing volunteer. Last Wednesday, Doug was presented with the Volunteerism: Above & Beyond award from the United Way of Central New York, honoring his exemplary selfless service to members of the community. Doug became a Red Cross Volunteer with the Central New York Chapter on October 9, 2014. He is an outstanding Chapter Disaster Action Team Leader responsible for coordinating the efforts of his team as first responders on the scene of a local disaster. The team responds to disaster scenes, day or night, so they can provide emergency assistance to families who have been displaced due to fires, floods, etc. He and his team responded to 47 emergency calls in 2017.

Doug works full time, but he logged an amazing 2,066 disaster response on-call hours and an impressive 423 general hours volunteering in a variety of positions last year. In addition to Disaster Services, he works as a volunteer caseworker for the Service of the Armed Forces Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) team. Doug provided 20 briefings for 963 family members of new military recruits.

When Doug and his team respond to home fires, they meet with the impacted residents to determine their immediate needs. “They may have just lost everything and what we can do is to provide the financial assistance to provide them clothes, to book hotels for them, to help them get through the first few days,” said Doug. No matter what the need, Doug never hesitates to leave his bed, his home and his family to help strangers in their time of greatest need. His family says they don’t think he knows the words “no” or “can’t.” Doug is often on call, and he volunteered his time on Independence Day and Thanksgiving last year. It’s in his nature to help people in need. The question they often ask is, “What should I do now?” It may be 2 a.m., they’re in their pajamas watching their home burn and here comes the Red Cross to offer help and comfort.

When I asked Doug to give me some inspiring quotes so that we can pass on to people. He said, “I don’t know if I really have any inspiring quotes, but I know the Red Cross is helping people when they are lost. The power of the Red Cross is being able to coordinate with our partners and supporters to pass the kindness of people to those in need.” People like Doug, and other Red Cross volunteers build bridges to help in their lowest points.

Thank you, Doug for all you do for our community.

Cara Wang - Communications Intern

CNY Board Members Lead by Example

“This is a great program. I can’t believe your phone isn’t ringing off the hook!”

Monroe Grassi of Canastota, NY was thrilled to learn that the American Red Cross could install free smoke alarms in his home. As soon as he and his wife Patricia learned about the Home Fire Campaign from the Madison County Office for the Aging, they began to spread the word.

“No charge, that’s a real plus when you’re on a fixed income,” Grassi said.

CNY Board Member Rob Just installs a smoke alarm in
Frank Stech's Cazenovia, NY Home

Three of the volunteers who visited the Grassis and two other Madison County families on Friday, July 31 to install smoke alarms and provide fire safety information normally support the Red Cross in another way. Joanna Ferguson, Rob Just and Renae Rokicki are members of Central New York Chapter’s Board of Directors.

“The Campaign was presented to us at a Board meeting, and it sounded neat,” said Just. “This is a great service for homeowners. I took the day off to do this!”

“As Board members, we don’t always have the opportunity to provide service at ground level,” added Rokicki. On Friday, she and Ferguson helped families put together an escape plan, while Just and AmeriCorps member Casey Pfeiffer installed the smoke alarms.

CNY Board members Renae Rokicki (l) and Joanna Ferguson
put on Red Cross vests and helped Monroe and Patricia Grassi
of Canastota, NY put together an escape plan

“This is a good way for people in the community to give back,” said Ferguson. “As Board members, we wanted to educate ourselves, be able to understand the impact the Red Cross has in the community.”  

Frank Stech had first-hand experience with how important the work of our volunteers can be. While Just and Pfeiffer were installing new smoke alarms in his Cazenovia home, Stech remembered when his neighbors lost their home to a fire when he was growing up in the ‘60s.

“The Red Cross was there, first on the scene to help those nine kids and their mother,” he said. “I know the importance of this. I wasn’t as interested in the free alarms as I was in learning where we should put them.”

Through education and ensuring homes have working smoke alarms, the Home Fire Campaign aims to reduce fire related deaths and injuries across the country by 25% over the next five years. Contact your local Chapter for more information or to schedule an appointment (in Central New York, email smokealarms.cny@redcross.org or call 315-234-2299). The volunteers that come to your door just may be Red Cross Board members, like Rob Just.

“This has been a lot of fun. I definitely want to do it again!”

"Your volunteers are amazing!"

Julie Perl at the Red Cross shelter at Westcott Community
Center in Syracuse Wednesday afternoon

Julie Perl thought her Tuesday was winding down as she left class at Bryant and Stratton College and headed home around 10pm, but unfortunately, her evening's journey was just beginning.

"I was headed down James Street, saw the fire trucks, and started freaking out," Perl said at the Red Cross shelter at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse Wednesday. Heavy rains had caused flash flooding in many areas of the city. At Perl's apartment complex, the power had been cut as the waters filled the basement and reached the electrical wiring, and the fire department told Julie and her family they had to leave.

"I've been here since 2:30 this morning," Perl said of the shelter. "The volunteers have been amazing. On the news, you see they're everywhere, but I've never had to deal with a situation where the Red Cross stepped in. They brought out snacks for the kids at 2:30 a.m., gave us water, blankets, breakfast this morning."

Perl and a couple of her fellow shelter residents actually helped set up the cots that 18 people slept on Tuesday night. She feels that's the least they could for the volunteers that were helping them. Volunteers like Rich Plumpton, who had just returned from two weeks working with the Red Cross relief efforts in Oklahoma three days earlier.

Julie Perl and her grandson enjoying lunch at the Wescott
Community Center shelter

"You couldn't ask for a better bunch of people," Perl said. "They actually felt bad that they didn't have any toys for my grandkids. But they gave them Mickey Mouse, and that made the kids so happy. They actually slept with the Mickeys!"

Later Wednesday afternoon, the shelter moved to St. Lucy's Church on Gifford Street, where 20 people spent Wednesday night. Julie Perl says she doesn't know what she would've done if it wasn't for the Red Cross.

"I have family, but they have things that they do, and don't have the room to put us up," she said. "We probably would've been in a shelter that's not fit for kids."

"Smoke Detectors Save Lives"

I woke up this morning and saw this Tweet from WKBW-TV in Buffalo:

The story of a home fire is all too familiar. Volunteers Diane and Fred helped five people after that early morning fire on Ideal Street, hours after Diane and Nicole provided for the immediate emergency needs of one person after a fire on Best Street. Volunteers responded to three disasters in Syracuse overnight, and on Tuesday DAT members responded to separate fires in Olean, Jamestown and Ripley.

Here's what made this story a bit different: "A fire official told 7 Eyewitness News smoke detectors in the home were working and 'saved their lives'." 

The American Red Cross has launched a campaign to reduce the number of deaths and injuries from fires by as much as 25% over the next five years. The Red Cross is calling on everyone to take two simple steps that can save lives: check their existing smoke alarms and practice fire drills at home.

Unfortunately, not every home has a working smoke detector. Seven times a day, someone in the United States dies in a fire. The Red Cross is joining with fire departments and community groups nationwide to install smoke alarms in communities with high numbers of fires.

For more information about how you or a loved one can have a free smoke alarm installed in your home, contact Individual and Community Preparedness Specialist Veronica Chiesi Brown. Together, we can help change the statistics and wake up to more success stories.

-Jay Bonafede, Regional Chief Communications Officer

Returning Volunteers Share Stories of CNY Relief Efforts

Diane Sargent of Lockport sent this picture
of the flooding in Onieda during the first of
her two deployments to assist in the relief efforts.

Once again, our incredible volunteers have come through to help our neighbors in need, this time a little closer to home. A total of 29 volunteers from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions have deployed as part of the flooding relief efforts in Central New York. While many of them--including Chief Disaster Officer Ken Turner, who is leading the operation in CNY--remain deployed, some of the volunteers have started making their way back home.

"I saw people in different stages of exhaustion," Carmella Bartimole, a Disaster Mental Health volunteer from Olean, said of her first deployment. "Some had just finished cleaning up, and then were flooded out again. People told me they had lived there their whole life and never seen anything like this."

Volunteers hand out water and clean-up items to area residents

"When I was out in the community doing Disaster Assessment, I saw some houses with water in their first floor, others whose basements were full of water," said Norm Kehl of Strykersville, who also worked in Bulk Distribution during his deployment to the Little Falls and Herkimer area. "We went to a store parking lot with 3-4 trucks filled with water, clean-up kits and other items. They were wiped out. People were very receptive, thinking us for being there."

"I think it was a source of comfort for people to see the American Red Cross on the scene," added Bartimole, who says she is looking forward to deploying again. "It refurbished my faith in people, seeing the community come together like that."

Niagara Falls Emergency Response Vehicle Deploying to CNY for Flooding Response

Third ERV from WNY/Finger Lakes Regions to assist in relief efforts

BUFFALO, NY, July 8, 2013 – The American Red Cross, Serving Erie & Niagara Counties is deploying an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), based in Niagara Falls, to the Central New York region to assist in the ongoing relief efforts following massive flooding in the area. Volunteers Joy Bidlack of East Aurora and Diane Sargent of Lockport will be meeting the ERV at the Chapter’s Administrative Headquarters at 786 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo Monday at approximately 9:30am and driving to the Utica headquarters to receive specific assignments.

Flooding in Oneida as seen by
Diane Sargent last week.

This is the third ERV from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions to deploy to the Utica area to assist in this response. The ERVs, including those deployed earlier from Jamestown and Rochester, will deliver food, water, clean-up kits and other supplies directly into some of the hardest-hit areas. Through Saturday night, the American Red Cross had provided 315 overnight shelter stays, nearly 20,000 meals and snacks, and more than 2,100 clean-up kits and comfort kids to residents affected by the floods.

The American Red Cross on Sunday continued mobile feeding in Oneida and Herkimer Counties, and it will provide mobile feeding and mobile distribution of clean-up supplies in the city of Oneida Monday.

Also on Sunday, the Red Cross closed its shelter at the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Valley at 701 Seneca St., Oneida. Other Red Cross shelters that were opened last week have been closed. The Red Cross has shelters on standby if more flooding creates the need for additional shelters.

A total of 28 volunteers from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions have been deployed to assist in this relief effort, with one additional volunteer deploying to Arizona to assist in the ongoing wildfire relief efforts there. This also marks Diane Sargent’s second deployment as part of the Central New York relief efforts. A full list of deployed volunteers is below, listed in order of their deployment date (two ERV drivers from Southwestern New York have asked to remain anonymous):

Stephen Erbland	Dansville	Logistics
Ari Gottlib	Rochester	Logistics
Michael Hoplight	Niagara Falls	External Relations
Tony Muscolino	Finger Lakes	External Relations
Sarah Perkins	Pittsford	Disaster Assessment
Diane Sargent	Lockport	Disaster Assessment/ERV
Gary Thompson	Finger Lakes	Disaster Assessment
Mary Walls	Williamsville	Disaster Assessment (Returned Home)
Patricia Jung	Wellsville	Staff Services
Stuart Moore	Allegany	Sheltering
Marianne Evans	Ransomville	Sheltering
Jennifer Godbout	Olean	Sheltering
Norm Kehl	Stykersville	Disaster Assessment
Carmella Bartimole	Olean	Disaster Mental Health
Edward Steinhauer	Elmira	Disaster Assessment
Emily Upham	Rochester	Health Services
Tom Daley	Tonawanda	Client Casework
Ruth Walters	Bath	Disaster Assessment
Kenneth Turner	Buffalo	Operations Management
Elizabeth Shook	Cuba	Staff Services
Leslie Mangano	Stow	Client Casework
Peggy McGee-Smith	Kenmore	Disaster Mental Health (Arizona)
Sharon Scarafia-Kimble	Lockport	Bulk Distribution
Arline Cookingham	Webster	Health Services
Joe Louis	Rochester	Staff Services
Joy Bidlack	East Aurora	ERV
Stephen Brown	Finger Lakes	Staff Services

HOW TO HELP Those who would like to help people affected by disasters like floods, wild fires and other crises can make a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. People can donate by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. These donations help provide food, shelter and emotional support to those affected by disasters.

WNY/Finger Lakes Region Sends Eight Volunteers to assist in Central NY Flooding Response

Red Cross providing shelter, food for affected residents

BUFFALO, NY, June 29, 2013 – The American Red Cross has launched a relief operation in Central New York in response to massive flooding across the region Friday. A total of eight volunteers from the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions have deployed to assist in the response, including the opening of a shelter at the Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. The deployed volunteers initially reported to Regional Headquarters in Syracuse to receive their specific assignments.

A list of volunteers who have been deployed is below. The volunteers are unavailable for interviews, but to arrange an interview with a Red Cross representative, please contact Jay Bonafede at (716) 435-7468 or joseph.bonafede@redcross.org

NAME, HOMETOWN                               FUNCTION                                                

Stephen Erbland, Dansville                            Logistics

Ari Gottlib, Rochester                                   Logistics

Michael Hoplight, Niagara Falls                     Logistics

Patricia Jung, Wellsville                                 Staff Services

Sarah Perkins, Pittsford                                 Disaster Assessment

Diane Sargent, Lockport                               Disaster Assessment

Gary Thompson, Finger Lakes Region           Logistics

Mary Walls, Williamsville                              Disaster Assessment

HOW TO HELP Those who would like to help people affected by disasters like tornadoes, floods and other crises can make a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. People can donate by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. These donations help provide food, shelter and emotional support to those affected by disasters.