CPR Saturday is March 12! Get trained for FREE!

Your chance to learn free lifesaving skills has arrived! So what if we're putting a couple of superheroes out of work.

Registration begins today, Friday, February 25, for CPR Saturday, a special one-day event scheduled for Saturday, March 12 on which the Red Cross will offer FREE CPR training to Western North Carolina residents. Mission Hospitals is this year’s regional sponsor of the event.

Courses will be offered at 17 locations throughout WNC and the Red Cross anticipates training more than 600 individuals in life-saving skills on that day. Pre-registration is required. Click here for information on registration.

You can has CPR? Yesh! LOLCats will be the first to tell you the importance of learning CPR. So you can be less like this:

And more like this:

No excuses; it's free! Be prepared. Get Trained. Save a life!

Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It’s a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work…

NEW ZEALAND: The New Zealand Red Cross responded immediately after the quake struck, providing first aid assistance as well as distributing blankets and water to people housed in evacuation shelters set up across the city. Eight Red Cross emergency response teams have been mobilized to the affected area to provide logistical support, help run welfare centers and assist in urban search and rescue.

LIBYA: The ICRC is stepping up its preparations to support medical facilities and treat the injured in Libyan cities where violence has taken place over the past few days. It is sending medical teams and surgical supplies to the area.

COLOMBIA: During the last three months of 2010, Colombia experienced the longest and most devastating stretch of wintry conditions for 40 years, which has heightened the vulnerability of people affected by armed conflict. The ICRC has been assisting with food, health services and other support.

GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

iPhone Users: Peace of Mind Now Fits in Your Pocket!

iPhone apps: fun, addictive and now - life saving! No, we're not talking about Fruit Ninja.

Introducing the new Red Cross App - Shelter View... This application helps you locate open shelters if and when disaster strikes.

Using the map view above, you’ll be able to check where shelters are open at any given time in the United States. A more detailed view is also available, showing you exactly where the shelter is, last reported resident count, capacity, and the local chapter involved with the shelter.

We hope you'll download this today. Imagine... peace of mind, in your pocket, under your thumb.

So go ahead, start another round of Angry Birds. We've got your back.

An Afternoon with Evergreen

This past Friday, Jennie Pressley, Special Events Coordinator, had the great opportunity of speaking to two of Ms. Kathy Millar’s 7th grade classes at Evergreen Charter School here in Asheville. First, there was a brief presentation about the Red Cross of WNC – how it was founded, and the four primary services we provide: A for Armed Forces (troop arrivals, support group, liaison), B for Blood (collection, benefits to recipients), C for Classes (Health & Safety) and D for Disaster Relief (home fires and major storm events). It's as easy as the alphabet!

Following the presentation there was a fun brainstorming session about the 5K that Evergreen will hold later this year as a fundraiser. The kids had some great ideas about marketing as well as some fun ideas for the end of the race, like raffles and music. We talked about approaching businesses for sponsorships, in-kind donations and coupons for goodie bags.

So keep your eyes and ears open for the Evergreen 5K later this year! We’ll let you know when and where it is just in case you don’t hear about it anywhere else.

The Red Cross has always been an organization to encourage youth involvement.

DID YOU KNOW?: The first known American Red Cross youth activity took place in Waterford, Pennsylvania, in 1884. Six children (pictured) performed a play that raised over $50 which they donated to the then three-year-old American Red Cross. Red Cross founder Clara Barton used the money to aid victims of severe flooding on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. "Sometime again when you want money to help you in your good work," the children wrote to Barton, "call on the Little Six." Thus began the tradition of youth providing funds to the Red Cross to support humanitarian programs.

Today, at the Asheville-Mountain Area Chapter, we are eager to engage our youth, whether it be in Babysitter's Training, Aquatics Programs or summer camps.

Reblog: Twitter Faux Pas

Since Asheville reigns as Beer City USA, we're surprised that this didn't happen here. While we don't condone drinking and tweeting, we're happy to have gone from "#gettngslizzerd to getting donations" as many have so humorously put it.

Side note: Support your local breweries!

Reblogged from the American Red Cross Blog.

"Last night we accidentally tweeted from our @RedCross account something that was meant to come from a personal account. Here’s what it looked like:

We realized our honest mistake (the Tweeter was not drunk) and deleted the above Tweet. We all know that it’s impossible to really delete a tweet like this, so we acknowledged our mistake:

In the meantime we found so many of you to be sympathetic and understanding. While we’re a 130 year old humanitarian organization, we’re also made of up human beings. Thanks for not only getting that but for turning our faux pas into something good.

You immediately embraced this mix-up and many of you have pledged donations to the Red Cross:

Huge thanks to Dogfish Head Brewery and the micro brew community for encouraging donations.

2 words of caution:

1. You’ll want to space out giving a pint of blood and drinking a pint of beer for health reasons.
2. Be careful of Hootsuite!"

It's National "Hug a Red Cross Volunteer" Day!

Okay, okay. We made that up.

But it's only because Valentine's Day has just passed and we are still in the mood to show some love to our wonderful volunteers! Volunteers are the heart of the American Red Cross. We simply could not open our doors and serve the Western North Carolina region without the commitment of our volunteers.

As we have over 1300 volunteers serving the region of Western North Carolina, we appreciate the magnitude of what volunteers do, whether they are greeting a blood donor, teaching Infant and Child CPR or offering aid to a family after a disaster.

Wanna volunteer for the American Red Cross? We'd love to have you! Whether you are a professional, retiree, full-time student or stay at home parent, we have something for you in our wide range of volunteer opportunities.


The Red Cross will be having a volunteer breakfast get-together on Friday, March 11^th at 10 AM at the Asheville-Mountain Area Chapter to explain more about the different volunteer opportunities as greeters, special event/office helpers, drivers, disaster responders, CPR instructors. Door prizes and fun!

Already know you're interested? Fill out an application and bring it to the breakfast!

Please contact Cappy Tosetti, Volunteer Coordinator to RSVP to 828 712-0983 or tosettim@usa.redcross.org.

In the meantime, maybe it's a little cheesy, but Red Cross Volunteers, this one's for you:

O say, can you see... Our soldiers coming home?

As the Sun Country Airlines private charter aircraft came rolling off the taxiway at Asheville Regional Airport headed straight toward a group of more than 500 sign-toting, flag-waving patriots, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and precious little children, two of the Asheville Fire Department’s water cannons crossed the craft with focused streams.

Instantly, a rainbow formed over a plane full of soldiers – military police of the 105^th Battalion of the National Guard to be exact – who were returning home after a year in Iraq. Water vapor wasn’t only in the air, it was streaming from the eyes of even the most battle-tested greeters.

As part of its Congressional Charter, the American Red Cross is responsible for providing services to the Armed Forces and their families. It was proud to be represented at this special ceremony by volunteers who provided food and drink, sign-making stations for the children and general information about how the Red Cross can provide support when members of the Armed Forces are deployed.

When the soldiers disembarked, the sights of hugs and kisses and the sounds of “Daddy, Daddy” and "Mommy, Mommy" made this sunny Sunday a special one for all who were there. At the ceremony following the initial reunions, we learned that only one soldier deployed with the group didn’t make it back – a somber reminder of what these brave men and women sacrifice for us all.

The commanding officer concluded his remarks by saying he would be proud to serve with every one of 140-plus soldiers who returned…”any time, anywhere.” And the Red Cross will be honored to support the service members and their families “any time, anywhere” as well. That’s a part of what we do for those who protect our freedom.

The American Red Cross of Western North Carolina is honored to provide Services to the Armed Forces. These services are available around-the-clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year. For more information, click here.

We train. We serve. We collect.... We blog!

Yes! It's true! Your eyes are not deceiving you. The Asheville-Mountain Area Chapter of the Red Cross now has its very own blog.

2011 marks the 100th year of service to Western North Carolina. In honor of our century of service, we are securing our presence in the 21st century with a blog!

We're going to be bringing you the most up-to-date and local emergency preparedness and disaster news and information.We're going to be including you in the latest on local events and blood drives. We're going to be reaching out to you, our community, and including you in our hands-on work in the community. And we're going to make it entertaining too!

For now, enjoy the video below, detailing and celebrating our 100th Year!

100 Years... Countless Lives:





Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day from the Red Cross of Western North Carolina! Keep those hearts open and pumping with an Adult CPR class!

Signed,

Your Red Cross