Surfing on to a new site!

If you type in www.buffaloredcross.org today, you'll see something completely different:

That's a quick screen-shot of our new local landing page on redcross.org. Pretty sharp, isn't it? Take some time to surf around and you'll see that the newly redesigned site still has all the same information about your local Red Cross, but in a new format that will hopefully make it easier to find what you are looking for. Because this landing page is part of the American Red Cross website, you'll find not only local information but regional and national news as well. And even if you don't know the local landing page's web address (it's www.redcross.org/buffaloniagara), the site uses new technology to customize your browsing experience using both location and history. That means someone looking for disaster information in Buffalo will see a different redcross.org home page than someone searching for a First Aid class in Southern California.

The old web address will automatically forward to the new landing page for a while, but to make sure you're always up to date, please update your bookmarks to the new address: www.redcross.org/buffaloniagara. And make sure you're following us on Twitter (@buffaloredcross) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/greaterbuffaloarc) for the very latest on what your local Red Cross is doing to serve the Western New York community. And of course, following this blog's not a bad idea, either!

"It was ugly"

Hurricane Isaac has faded from the news, but the devastation it left behind remains. Almost a month after the storm first hit the Gulf region, there were still 50 people staying in Red Cross shelters last night, and that doesn't even begin to get into the cleanup that needs to be done. When he returned home to Buffalo from his deployment to Louisiana, volunteer Lou Colca said several areas in the Gulf were still without power when he left late last week.

Some of the flooding immediately after Isaac hit Louisiana
Photo courtesy Red Cross

Colca worked on an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), serving food to residents in affected areas. "It was ugly," Colca said. "Houses still had a lot of water in them. Those that had dried were gutted, with ruined furniture piled on the lawn. I even saw tombstones that had been picked up and moved by the waters."

This was Colca's second deployment, and says he saw more devastation from Isaac than he did following flooding in New Jersey a few years ago. But as he found in New Jersey, people in the Gulf were happy to see the Red Cross on the scene.

"Even in McDonald's, people would come up and thank you," Colca said. "When we were serving food from the ERV, people wanted to give me money. Of course I told them no thanks, all our disaster assistance is free, but some of them said they would make a donation to the Red Cross as soon as they got things back together."

Because of the ever-changing situation, Colca rarely spent two nights in the same place during his week and a half deployment, as the Red Cross shifted focus to areas of greatest need. Despite never knowing where he was going to spend the night, Colca says it was happy with his experience in the Gulf. "My supervisor was very organized and kept everyone calm through all the changes. We worked well with the Texas Southern Baptists, who cooked most of the food we served, and we were able to leave any leftover food with local churches. It actually was very rewarding!"

Pete Swales (middle) of Springville, NY with two
international volunteers from Mexico getting ready to serve
meals from an ERV in Covington, LA.
24 WNY volunteers were part of relief efforts.

If you'd like to support the continuing relief efforts in the Gulf, or help ensure the Red Cross is ready the next time disaster strikes, please make a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund by calling 1-800-REDCROSS, visiting www.redcross.org, or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation (charges will appear on your cellphone bill).

Never forget

Chances are, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing 11 years ago today. Personally, I was working evenings at the time, so I was still in bed when my wife called, asking me to tape CNN because someone had just crashed a plane into the World Trade Center. Still groggy, I walked in and turned on the TV, but nothing I was seeing made any sense, so I had to call my wife back and ask what just happened. The rest of September 11, 2001 and the days and weeks that followed were largely spent asking that same question, as the world came to grips with the enormity of the terrorist attacks.

Here at the Red Cross, Executive Director Nancy Blaschak recalls watching the Towers fall with fellow staff members in the Board room of the Clement Mansion. Along with the shock that everyone felt that morning, they knew that the Red Cross would soon be called into action. With air travel shut down across the nation, dozens of local volunteers soon loaded into cars and drove the six or so hours toward Ground Zero, where they were among the first Red Cross volunteers to arrive. The relief efforts would last for weeks, as seen in this slideshow from the American Red Cross in Greater New York.

Locally, we continue to support and work with the Western New York Families of September 11th, who held their annual memorial vigil here Sunday night. The candlelight service remembered all those who lost their lives that tragic day, including the 26 victims with connections to Western New York. Family member Leigh Macadlo, who lost her brother Leonard Castrianno on 9/11, discussed the meaning of this day with Mary Friona of Channel 2 from the front lawn of the Clement Mansion this morning, where their flag tribute remains on display. 

The American Red Cross encourages everyone to take time out on this day of remembrance, and to never forget September 11, 2001.

Front-yard flags remember loved ones lost

If you're driving or walking down Delaware Avenue in Buffalo this week, you'll notice something a little different in the front yard of the Clement Mansion.

Thousands of American flags planted in the lawn does make for a beautiful and attention-getting sight on their own, but if you stop to take a closer look, you'll realizing how powerful this display really is.

Each of the flags has a tag attached with a name and some brief biographical information. This is the Western New York Families of September 11th's annual flag tribute to remember the lives lost on that terrible day eleven years ago. By the end of the week, this amazing group of people, each of whom lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2011, will have planted a flag representing each of the nearly 3,000 lives lost that day. There will be a special section to remember those who had connections to Western New York.

This Sunday at 8pm, the group will hold a candlelight vigil here at the Red Cross in remembrance of those lost on 9/11. I had the honor of working with these wonderful families last year, and attended the vigil for the first time. It truly is a moving experience, and helps drive home the impact 9/11 still has on our lives more than a decade later.

If you can't make the vigil, the flags will be up at least through next week, and I strongly encourage you to stop and walk around the display. You'll truly be moved by the efforts of the 9/11 Families to make sure we never forget the lives lost on that tragic day, and the Red Cross is honored to be a small part of this memorial.