Kenneth Turner Named Chief Program Officer for WNY Region

29-year staff member managed October Surprise and Flight 3407 response

Chief Program Officer Kenneth Turner

BUFFALO, NY, February 5, 2013 – Regional Executive Director Nancy Blaschak has announced the appointment of Kenneth Turner as Chief Program Officer for the American Red Cross, Western New York Region. A 29-year staff member, Turner will oversee disaster services as well as community service programs for the eight counties in Western New York. In addition, Turner will oversee disaster services for the Finger Lakes region, which encompasses the Greater Rochester Area.

“I am so pleased to be able to make this announcement today,” Blaschak said. “Ken has done an amazing job directing our Emergency Services department, and I know he will do the same for our Services to Seniors, HIV/AIDS Services and other community service programs moving forward.”

Turner has been with the Red Cross for 29 years, most recently serving as Senior Director of Emergency Services. Turner served as Operations Manager for the Red Cross response to the October Surprise Storm of 2006 and the crash of Flight 3407 in 2009. In the fall of 2011 Turner served as the Assistant Director for the Red Cross response to Tropical Strom Lee and Hurricane Irene in the Lower Hudson Valley, and he led the Western New York regional planning for and response to Hurricane Sandy last October.

“Accepting this position is a great honor for me,” Turner said. “It has been my privilege to be a part of the Red Cross for almost three decades now, and I look forward to working with our amazing staff and volunteers to help the Western New York community prevent, prepare for and respond to disasters for years to come.”

A graduate of Buffalo State College, Turner also holds a certificate from the Clara Barton Institute of Domestic Preparedness in weapons of mass destruction. The Buffalo resident also works as an NCAA Division I college basketball referee.

Help support!

As it is National Preparedness Month, the Walden Galleria Mall is teaming up with the American Red Cross to promote Disaster Preparedness! This Saturday from 11am-2pm, you’ll be able to talk with American Red Cross representatives who will be on the lower level of the Galleria Mall (just outside of Sephora) handing out preparedness information, including a sample disaster kit and kid friendly preparedness materials and coloring books.  The preparedness information is to help educate the community on the importance of being prepared, especially after our close encounter with Hurricane Irene.  Although she didn’t cause a lot of damage here in the Western New York community, others weren’t as lucky.  Now is the time to get prepared in case there is another hurricane or other disaster, and the information that we’ll be handing out at the mall will do just that.

Speaking of Irene, we are continuing to help those impacted by Hurricane Irene.  To date, the Red Cross has served more than 1.6 million meals and snacks and provided approximately 58,000 overnight shelter stays since the storm made landfall on August 27th.  Over two dozen Red Cross staff and volunteers from the Western New York region remain on deployment to assist with the Hurricane Irene relief efforts in New York State and New England.  The Red Cross relief efforts are currently estimated to cost between $10-$15 million.

To help with this relief effort, there will be a collection canister for the Disaster Relief Fund located at the customer service desk, and a second canister will be available with Red Cross representatives near Sephora. 

 “We are extremely thankful the support of the Walden Galleria,” said Jerilyn Hickey, Director of Major Gifts.  “It is only because of the generosity of the American public that the Red Cross can be there to help our neighbors in need here at home, across the country, and around the world.  And promoting the importance of being prepared, the Galleria is helping to make sure Western New Yorkers are ready should a disaster hit here.”

To learn more about our disaster relief efforts, please click here.

To make a contribution to our relief efforts online, or to learn about other methods of giving, please click here.