A Red Cross Halloween

Halloween is sort of a big deal in our fair city of Asheville. It's no secret that we will take any excuse to play dress up and share a locally brewed cold one with friends. And with Halloween only a few days, we're guessing that you’ve already figured out your costume. But if time has gotten away from you this fall and you still don’t know what you’ll dress up as, here are a few Red Cross-themed costumes I’d recommend.

American Red Cross Nurse (circa 1940)

American Red Cross Volunteer (throw on a Red Cross t-shirt, jeans, and a lanyard and you’ll be all set)

Buddy Blood Drop (Let's be honest. He's a little creepy.)

Now that you’ve gotten your costume squared away, take a moment to review the Red Cross’ Lucky 13 Tips for a safe Halloween. Be sure to wear your Red proudly at one of these local Halloween events!

Trick or treat!

Note: If you choose to dress up in a Red Cross-themed costume, please keep in mind that you’re representing the organization and remember to respect its mission and fundamental principles. Thanks!

The Red Cross Centennial Ball: The Celebration of the Century

If you missed the Red Cross Centennial Ball, you missed the celebration of a century: figuratively and literally. See the photos below.














View the rest of the photos here.

80 Seconds

A woman holds up one of the few items that survived the fire that took her home in Chicago. Photo by Erica Barraca

Did you know that every 60 seconds*…

• More than 168 million emails are sent
• 695,000 status updates and 510,040 comments are published on Facebook
• Google serves more that 694,445 search queries
• More than 13,000 iPhone apps are downloaded
• 6,600 images are published on Flickr
• 600 videos (about 25 hours of content) are uploaded to YouTube

Seems impressive, but here’s another statistic: approximately every 80 seconds someone will lose their home to a fire. That’s more than 63,000 fires a year that Red Cross volunteers across the country will respond to.

October is National Fire Prevention Month, and our friends at the Chicago Red Cross has created a way for you to get a glimpse of what losing some of your cherished photo memories would feel like with their “Every 80 Seconds” campaign. With home fires, “things” can usually be replaced, but precious photos usually cannot. After you go through this, take a moment to make sure your home and family are Red Cross Ready.

The Red Cross goes Black Tie

Throw on a black tie in honor of the Red Cross. All the cool kids are doing it... See?

After hurricanes, fires and floods, the Red Cross knows how to clean up, serve a hot meal and make people feel at home. Now, imagine taking that talent to the Crowne Plaza and treating guests to an evening of elegance, complete with red roses, live music, fine art, and fine gourmet dining.

That’s just what will happen this October at the Crowne Plaza Expo Center in Asheville – the Red Cross of Western North Carolina will go black tie for one night and one night only.

On October 22, the Red Cross of Western North Carolina will honor its centennial year in elegant fashion with the Red Cross Ball: The Celebration of a Century. With the help of presenting sponsor, Asheville Savings Bank, the Red Cross will host a lavish evening of cocktails, dinner and dancing to the music of local favorite, A Social Function.

“The Red Cross is thrilled to celebrate our Centennial year with such a fine event and with such fine friends. We are so pleased that Asheville Savings Bank is sponsoring the Ball, in their own 75^th year,” said Patrick Fitzsimmons, CEO of the Western North Carolina Region.

While wining, dining and dancing, attendees to the Ball can expect the chance to support the regional efforts of the Red Cross through a “Fund the Needs” auction. This unique auction of goods and services will offer the opportunity to make a direct pledge to humanitarian services the Red Cross provides to the community. In addition to the “Fund the Needs” auction, guests may bid on a number of fine art pieces from a selection of renowned artists, including Jonas Gerard, Gail Smith and George Widener.

Any proceeds from the auctions as well as ticket sales will go directly to supporting the regional humanitarian efforts of the Red Cross of Western North Carolina. Single tickets for the Red Cross Ball are $125 and may be purchased online at www.redcrosswnc.org. Tables of 8 are available are also for $1000.

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…

PAKISTAN: Today the IFRC launched a preliminary emergency appeal for $12 million to provide urgent relief and medical support to 105,000 people affected by the devastating floods that have once again struck Pakistan.

JAPAN: The Japanese Red Cross has played a key role in tsunami and nuclear disaster emergency response and recovery efforts. 800 medical teams were deployed immediately after the disaster to run mobile clinics for survivors. With donations totalling $510 million received (of a total $51 billion pledged) by Red Cross Red Crescent societies abroad, another key part of the Japanese Red Cross reconstruction plan is to support the building of temporary hospitals.

KENYA: A leaking gasoline pipeline in Kenya’s capital exploded on Monday, turning part of a slum into an inferno in which at least 75 people were killed and more than 100 hurt. Red Cross official Pamela Indiaka said the Red Cross is providing body bags and has dealt with 75 bodies so far. The death toll from the blast may still rise.

ITALY: The 34th Round Table on current issues of international humanitarian law (IHL) recently took place in San Remo, from September 8-10, 2011. Conclusions were made by Dr Philip Spoerri, Director for International Law and Cooperation, ICRC, regarding new weapon technologies and IHL.

GLOSSARY:

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

Infographic: How Dangerous is Your House?

via Ecomom.com

The Path of a Blood Donation

Follow the path of a blood donation "from arm to arm!" Watch below:

Find a Blood Drive here and send your blood on a life-saving journey!