"I'm grateful for the Red Cross"

This is what was left of Martinez's Bailey Avenue apartment
complex after an early-morning fire

Like all of the tenants of her Bailey Avenue apartment complex in Buffalo, Miriam Martinez was sound asleep when a fire broke out early Saturday morning.

"It all happened so fast," Martinez says. Luckily, she was awoken by a smoke alarm that had been installed by American Red Cross volunteers only three weeks earlier.

"That will save you're life," she said, explaining that she encourages others to have smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors installed. Unfortunately, Martinez knew the importance of being prepared, as Saturday's incident was the third house fire she's suffered in her life.

"I'm grateful for Red Cross, they came immediately," she told us when this latest fire broke out in her apartment. She was also pleasantly surprised to recognize some of the volunteers from her previous experience with the Red Cross as they responded to the scene of this latest disaster. She says having familiar faces around her helped her feel more at ease.

Miriam Martinez with her family and other tenants of the
Bailey Avenue apartment fire

In addition to that comfort, the Red Cross provided food, clothing and support for 17 people, including Martinez, after this fire. Volunteers also provided some residents with temporary housing, but Martinez was staying with her son and his girlfriend, who invited other tenants to stay with them as well. The residents of the Bailey Avenue complex are are one big family, all concerned for each other. Despite the tragic events, everyone was keeping a positive attitude, and in addition to the Red Cross, other community groups were also coming to help. The atmosphere was positive in a tragic event.

"This truly is the City of Good Neighbors," Martinez says.

The Red Cross Home Fire Campaign helped saved the life of Miriam Martinez and the other residents of this apartment complex. Experts say you have as little as two minutes to safely escape a burning home, and working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a house fire in half. The Home Fire Campaign offers free smoke alarms with installation as well as fire preparedness education.If you want to learn more or sign up for a free installation then you can click here.

--Emma Reeve
Communications intern

Resolve to Prepare!

The New Year is coming and many are making their New Year's resolutions. We're asking everyone to add getting prepared for emergencies to their list for 2017.

Families need to plan as to what they should do if a disaster occurs. People can make a difference in your community by knowing what to do when disaster strikes. It’s just a few short steps away:

1. Get a kit. If you’ve ever fumbled to find a flashlight during a blackout, you know what it feels like to be unprepared. Use a downloadable checklist  available on redcross.org to make it easy to get your emergency preparedness kit ready. You should include:

• Three-day supply of non-perishable food and water—one gallon per person, per day for drinking and hygiene purposes
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit, medications and medical items
• Copies of all important documents (proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
• Extra cash
• Choose a contact person from out of the area and make sure all household members have this person’s phone number and email address. It may be easier to call long distance or text if local phone lines are overloaded or out of service.
• Tell everyone in the household where emergency information and supplies are kept.
• Practice evacuating your home twice a year. Drive your planned evacuation route and plot alternate routes on a map in case main roads are impassable.
• Don’t forget your pets. If you must evacuate, make arrangements for your animals. Keep a phone list of “pet friendly” motels/hotels and animal shelters that are along your evacuation routes.
• If you live or travel often to areas near a fault line, learn how to prepare and what to do during an earthquake. If summer brings to mind not just beaches and picnics but also tropical storms and hurricanes, arm yourself with information about what to do in case one occurs. Remember that emergencies like fires and blackouts can happen anywhere, so everyone should be prepared for them.
• Find out how you would receive information from local officials in the event of an emergency.
• Learn First Aid and CPR/AED so that you have the skills to respond in an emergency before help arrives, especially during a disaster when emergency responders maybe delayed. Visit redcross.org/takeaclass for online and in-class offerings and to register.

2. Make a plan. Talk with household members about what you would do during emergencies. Plan what to do in case you are separated, and choose two places to meet - one right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency such as a fire, and another outside your neighborhood in case you cannot return home or are asked to evacuate. 

3. Be informed. Know the risks where you live, work, learn and play.

The Red Cross Emergency App provides real-time emergency alerts and information about what to do in case of emergencies, as well as locations of open Red Cross shelters. It is a single ‘go-to’ source for 14 different types of emergencies and disasters and allows users to notify loved ones who are in an affected area. The Monster Guard App gives 7- to 11-year-olds a free, fun, gaming environment to learn how to prevent emergencies, like home fires, and how to stay safe if severe weather or natural disasters occur. You can download the apps for free in your app stores or at redcross.org/apps

The Red Cross has also partnered with New York State to offer free Citizen Preparedness Corps training. Available online or in person, the training provides information about common types of natural and man-made disasters and teaches effective ways to prepare for, respond to and recover from them as an individual, family and community. 

Most of all, on behalf of all of us at the Western and Central New York Region, best wishes for a very happy--and safe!!!--2017.

"It's a blessing to be with people that care"

"It was really bad. The first thing that came to mind was 9/11, and that's exactly what it looked like."

Rose Blattenbeger had no idea that 90%
of the American Red Cross workforce are
volunteers until she came to the shelter
at Lackawanna High School

Rose Blattenberger lives in Bethlehem Park in Lackawanna, and says the massive fire that broke out at the former Bethlehem Steel plant on Wednesday, November 9 was terrifying.

"We were so lucky that the wind went to the opposite side, otherwise all those houses would've gotten on fire, and everything would've gone down like dominoes," she said. Unfortunately, the winds shifted the next day, and the thick, black smoke forced Rose and her neighbors to evacuate. She was one of 13 people who spent Thursday night at a Red Cross shelter at Lackawanna High School.

April Brough said it's a "blessing" to have
Red Cross volunteers taking care of her
and her family

"It's not home, but it's a blessing to be with people that care," Rose said of the Red Cross volunteers. "They provide us with food, beverages, and I'm lucky to be with my neighbors. It's just a blessing to be here instead of being at home, breathing that smoke."

"They go above and beyond the call of duty to be of assistance to someone who might be in a difficult situation," added April Brough, who was staying at the shelter along with her husband and three young children. April also encouraged any of her neighbors trying to stick it out to listen to the evacuation warnings: "Don't be stubborn, all that they're doing is looking is looking out for our safety. Especially seeing how well you guys have taken care of my family."

"Being here, you are with people that care. And that's the best thing that one can have is people that care, and they're nice," added Rose. "I just heard about the Red Cross, that they're all volunteers, and they don't get paid for that, and I was not aware of that. I would recommend the Red Cross sky high from now on."

A Message from our Greater Rochester Chapter Board Chair

As both the Chair of the American Red Cross, Greater Rochester Chapter Board of Directors, and a Red Cross volunteer, I would like to address some of the facts reported in the Democrat and Chronicle on Sunday, September 4.

The American Red Cross is proud of its heritage here in Greater Rochester. Clara Barton founded the first Chapter of the American Red Cross in Dansville in 1881. Our current location on Elizabeth Street in Dansville serves not only as meeting and storage space for our Livingston County staff and volunteers, but also as a museum to the rich history of the Red Cross. During Dansville’s Clara Barton Day celebration last month, our staff led walking tours for the community and opened our home for the public to see and enjoy the many historic artifacts preserved there. If you missed that opportunity, you can schedule a tour and learn more about this important piece of our community’s history by calling 585-335-3500.

The Red Cross is also proud to be a long-standing United Way partner. There is no single organization that can meet all the needs of a community. The collectively negotiated annual allocation we receive from the United Way—agreed upon prior to the “Vision 2017” national reorganization of the Red Cross referenced in the article--helps the Red Cross fill our role of helping this community prevent, prepare for and respond to disaster, while the United Way also continues to support other deserving organizations that serve different needs across our community.

It is also important to note that the “Vision 2017” national reorganization was actually completed in the fall of 2014, following discussions during the Great Recession as to how to best serve our communities in a different economic climate. Although our brick and mortar presence has changed, our physical presence in terms of our volunteer outreach has not. In the past year alone, Red Cross volunteers in Livingston, Monroe and Ontario Counties: provided food, clothing, shelter and support for over 1,000 of our neighbors in need after home fires and other disasters; installed 760 free smoke alarms to help families reduce the risk of fire-related death and injury; trained over 18,400 people in life-saving CPR/AED, First Aid and other Health & Safety programs; collected over 41,400 units of blood--each of which can help save up to three lives-- at over 2,100 blood drives; and opened 314 cases to help our military members and their families, while distributing nearly 3,000 Military Resource Guides as well as over 520 cold weather and comfort kits to Veterans and Homeless Veteran Partner Agencies. These incredible services that occur each and every day are a direct result of the reorganization completed two years ago to meet the growing demand for our services while making the best use of donor dollars. In fact, an average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends goes directly to these humanitarian programs.

The American Red Cross is not brick and mortar buildings; it’s neighbors helping neighbors. While most of us were sleeping early Tuesday morning, Red Cross volunteers Melissa Miller and Herb Wolfe were on the scene of a fire that destroyed three homes on Myrtle Street in Rochester. As our over 1,000 volunteers do each and every day, Melissa and Herb not only provided 13 of our neighbors with a safe place to stay, food, clothing and support, they also gave these families something else: Hope. You can help families with nowhere else to turn know that their community will help pick them up in their darkest hours by supporting the Red Cross, either as a donor or a volunteer. You can learn more by visiting www.redcross.org/wcny or calling 585-241-4400. The American Red Cross has been in Greater Rochester for 135 years, and thanks to your support, we will continue to be a vital part of this amazing community for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Diana Clarkson

Board Chair 
American Red Cross, Greater Rochester Chapter