Posted Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 8:59 AM by Tom Foley
March is Red Cross Month, so proclaimed by every President since FDR, and the SEPA Chapter is marking that proclamation with over 110 events in the course of the month, including the double header we hosted on Saturday, March 6: CPR Saturday in the morning (when 80 SEPA Volunteers trained 309 young people in First Aid and CPR) and The Red Ball at 8 PM that night (when 1140 people and several music and movie stars helped raise funds for Red Cross House at the Please Touch Museum).
We were also at the Clara Barton School with 250 second graders on March 5, and our volunteers will receive a public proclamation and thank you from City Council on March 25 (to go with other proclamations from the Governor and the state legislature). We will celebrate eight phenomenal lifesavers at the Help Can’t Wait Awards with 200 business/community partners tomorrow at the Horticulture Center, and kickoff the Red Cross Walk & Run to Save Lives in Fairmount Park at 8 AM on April 17.
I hope you have seen almost 200 Red Cross flags flying across the city, the 35-floor Red Cross in red lights on the CIRA building, the quite substantial coverage of our activities in the mainstream press and TV/Radio, and the coverage of us on active blogs, flickr, facebook, and other social network sites. Red Cross Month is a great opportunity for us to reinforce our community presence, and we’re honored to continue the Red Cross Month tradition. See you at the Walk & Run on April 17!
Posted Monday, March 22, 2010 at 11:38 AM by Tom Foley
The focus in Haiti continues to be on emergency and transitional shelter, on health, on sanitation and on the way forward. Although there has been substantial progress on every front of this response, the question remains whether it will be either enough or in time to ward off further tragedy. In the face of all this, I hope you will be heartened to learn that our SEPA Chapter staff and volunteers have never missed a beat. We are front and center meeting the needs of this community, every day and every night.
Since January 12, when the quake hit Haiti,
Our volunteers have responded to over 150 local disasters, which displaced more than 500 people.
Red Cross House has been at over 80% occupancy since January 12, with 17 families, 48 people with us today (including a family of five who were burned out of their home on Howland Street in Philadelphia on Saturday night).
Our health and safety team has taught 1,428 classes, training (and certifying) almost 15,000 people in lifesaving techniques.
Our emergency services team has helped well over 200 military families by connecting those serving our country with friends and family back home.
Our Red Cross Club kids have been all over the map helping us with creative fundraising strategies in their schools, raising awareness about Red Cross locally, in Haiti and Chile, and continuing their community service projects (over 60 last year).
We are only able to rise to the financial and other needs in Haiti, in Chile, and in this region because our staff and volunteers have built up a significant level of trust in this five county community, and because this community is so generous. Truly amazing.
Hope this information is useful to you. Thank you for all your support.
Posted Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 9:57 AM by Tom Foley
On Thursday the 18th, we held our annual Red Ball Press Preview Party at the Chestnut Club at Arcadia Theatre. There, I had the pleasure of hosting alongside CBS3 Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan, who spoke about his experience organizing and running CBS3’s “Help for Haiti” Telethon. He lauded the unwavering generosity of Philadelphians in both their giving and emotional response. Jim also made the special announcement that Top 10 singer/songwriter Adam Crossley will perform live at our upcoming Red Ball, to be held this Saturday at the Please Touch Museum.
At the Red Ball Press Preview Party, I also introduced Georges Fortune, a Chapter employee who spoke about the agony of waiting to hear from his sister in Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12 quake. Through his turmoil, Georges continued to work at the Chapter, and he even volunteered at our Family Links sites to help others in his situation. Georges spoke about his passion for the mission of the Red Cross and his conviction to serve others even while he, himself, was suffering.
Yesterday morning, I had the pleasure of introducing Georges again. This time, he addressed the corporate partners and team captains who came to our kickoff rally at The Sofitel Hotel for the 2010 Red Cross Walk & Run to Save Lives. There, I also introduced Kevin Bremer of ModSpace, our presenting sponsor, and issued the challenge to have 100 dogs at the Walk & Run this year.
March is an exciting time for us, and it was great to begin Red Cross Month with these two kickoff events. Thank you to everyone who helped make them a success.
Posted Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 3:38 PM by Tom Foley
It was tough list to narrow down, but I’m pleased to present the Top 25 Accomplishments of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross for 2009. View the Top 25 List here.
Despite a tough year for the national economy, the SEPA Chapter did not cut back on any services, thanks to the dedication of our Chapter staff and 12,288 volunteers. Other highlights from the past year include a record-setting Red Cross Month (with more than 109 events!), our 13th straight audit without a single finding (thanks to Philadelphia Business Journal’s “CFO of the Year” Bayard Gardineer), and our volunteers’ overwhelming response to 5 major disasters (with more than 80 people displaced in each).
I’m honored to be a part of an organization that is not only successful, but whose success is derived from the unwavering commitment of volunteers. This year’s Top 25 is a list you won’t want to miss.
Posted Monday, January 25, 2010 at 2:12 PM by Tom Foley
Our prayers continue to be with the disaster victims in Haiti and their families here in Philadelphia. We are amazed by the donations pouring in, and we know that your gifts are really making a difference.
Our staff and volunteers have kept the Chapter open since the quake hit, and we have been working directly with the Haitian community here (approximately 34 Haitian churches in the area), with our traditional partners at the United Way and elsewhere, and with new partners engaged in this massive relief effort. Our team has handled thousands of calls on this tragedy, hundreds of walk-in visits to the Chapter, conducted six training sessions for Creole-speaking volunteers, and worked one-on-one with several hundred organizations interested in contributing financial and other resources. Our Cont Ops plan is fully engaged and our SEPA chapter-specific "Haiti Standard Operating Procedures Manual" gets updated every day.
Disaster relief is beginning to turn a corner, but this is still an effort tremendously detoured by the need to create infrastructure (roads, airstrips, gas pipelines, communications, warehouse and distribution centers, etc.) almost from scratch. Though the media attention is already beginning to wane, there is still a great amount of suffering in this country the size of Maryland.
Posted Friday, January 15, 2010 at 2:18 PM by Tom Foley
Yesterday, the Inquirer published an article by John Timpane on the front page of the Magazine section about the use of social media during this catastrophe in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I received a call from John on Wednesday afternoon to discuss how the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter is taking part, and he reflects on our good progress in his interesting piece.
As you can see from our Chapter blog, we’ve been posting information as we’ve received it. Also, check out our Twitter account and Facebook page. We’ve had a surge of new followers and fans over the past few days, and we’re overwhelmed by their support. We know that social media is the best way to keep in touch with you, and we’re keeping these pages as up-to-date as possible.
Our prayers are with both the disaster victims and those searching for their loved ones. Please stay tuned for more information, and know that our thoughts are with you.
Red Cross Club Students Take Over Chapter Headquarters
Posted Friday, December 11, 2009 at 2:53 PM by Tom Foley
Last night, about 50 Red Cross Club students from Edison, Lincoln, Bok, and Randolph high schools took over the Chapter Headquarters to wrap presents for our annual Children’s Holiday Party next Wednesday evening. Generous donors from all over the region provided over 500 gifts, and these students really worked hard and got the job done. (With fun along the way, of course!)
Over 500 young people, all victims of fires or other disasters in the last year, will be at the Holiday Party, with most of the food, staff time, and space donated by Loews Philadelphia Hotel and their leader Valerie Ferguson.
Posted Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 8:29 AM by Tom Foley
So many of our volunteers serve every day without recognition – and that’s how they prefer it. However, I’m always blown away by their dedication and their character. It’s a privilege for me to share their stories once in a while.
Patrick Fulton, a 14-year Emergency Services volunteer for our Chapter, is an inspiration to me and to his three teenage sons. He recently returned to Overbrook High School to earn his diploma and, at his graduation ceremony in May, represented his senior class as commencement speaker.
When I asked why he decided to go back to school, Patrick responded, “I couldn’t ask my sons to do something I didn’t do myself.”
In September, Patrick, who has responded to more than 300 disasters, received one of the highest honors bestowed by our Chapter, the Commemorative Award, given to an outstanding front line volunteer. Congratulations, Patrick!
Posted Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 10:48 AM by Tom Foley
On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Philadelphia Fire Department and volunteers from the Red Cross went door-to-door distributing fire safety literature and checking smoke alarms in the South Philadelphia neighborhood where a devastating fire took the lives of two senior citizens the previous evening.
We call these home visits “fire safety walkthroughs,” and we conduct them after every fatal fire.
Last year, we reached 16,732 families through 39 fire safety walkthroughs, and Fire Commissioned Lloyd Ayers recently shared with the Chapter that fire fatalities have decreased 31% since the Philadelphia Fire Department and the Red Cross started the walkthrough program.
This is great news, and let’s keep that percentage rising. Fire deaths are tragedies that can be prevented. Please invest in smoke alarms, replace the batteries of your existing ones, and make sure your friends and families do the same.
Posted Monday, August 31, 2009 at 11:04 AM by Tom Foley
I’m Tom Foley, CEO of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Red Cross, and I invite you to read our posts, click around and join the conversation.
Here at the SEPA Chapter, we are a community of people helping people. Our 12,288 volunteers and staff members train and certify people in lifesaving techniques, collect and give blood, operate Red Cross Clubs, provide emergency services to members of the armed forces, educate the community, and, of course, respond to disasters. In the last year alone, our volunteers and staff members provided food, clothing and shelter to victims of 750 fires, floods, and other disasters in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties (4,306 disasters in the last five years!).
This blog is an opportunity for us, the Red Cross community, to share stories. And that community includes you. Welcome!
Read, click and enjoy. We look forward to hearing from you.
Welcome! Red Cross Philly bloggers are staff members and volunteers of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. Each post is an insight into the daily work of the Chapter-our day-to-day fulfillment of the mission of the organization.
These posts are written by fallible people, so they do not necessarily reflect the views of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. Click here for a more general ("official") view of what we do.
Please comment and join the conversation. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Contributors
Alex Agosti Director of Preparedness
Emily Carrere AmeriCorps
Melissa Hunsberger Emergency Services Planning and Training Coordinator
Christine Jones AmeriCorps
Leah Kristie Donor Relations and Communications Coordinator
Reka Magge AmeriCorps
Aurora Muñoz Development Coordinator
Donna Palmieri Interim CEO
Jennifer Petitt AmeriCorps
Robin Rabinowitz AmeriCorps
Maurice Weeks Coordinator of Corporate Relations and Special Events
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