Red Cross Homeless Shelter Clean-Up is this coming Saturday May 31, 2008!

Our homeless shelter clean-up is this Saturday May 31, 2008. We are still looking for volunteers to help out. If you’d like to volunteer please visit our website and sign up – just click this link! We start at 9 am and work until we’re done – which is usually around 1 pm.

The shelter is located at:

809 Cedar Street
Rockford, IL 61103

Just for the kids! At Rock’n for the RED!!

Admission is just $5 to attend Rock’n for the Red and there is something to do for the whole entire family. 100% of the money raised at Rock’n for the Red stays to help victims of disaster in the Rock River Region.

Build a Stuffed Animal!
Families will have the opportunity to build a stuffed animal with PAWS in addition to build a stuffed animal for themselves PAWS will donate a stuffed animal to give to children that are victims of disaster (most commonly single-family house fires).

Balloon Animals!
Billy the Balloon Guy will make an appearance making balloons for everyone in the whole family. Billy can make anything from bunnies to pirate swords and everything in between. To learn more about Billy go to his website.

Bean Bag Toss
Bean bag toss, corn toss, bags, whatever you want to call it’s just plain fun! Kids and adults can play corn toss at Rock’n for the Red – Super Corn Toss is sponsoring Rock’n for the Red check out their website.

Face Painting!
Want to become a kitty cat, tiger, pirate, or even Spiderman? You can and our face painters at Rock’n for the Red are there for you! Let your imagination be your guide.

Meet a Firefighter!
The fire department will be at Rock’n for the Red with many different interactive stations are set up showing children and parents what the Fire Department does for the community.

Tie Dye a T-Shirt!

Earthquake in China: Yao Ming PSA

If you’re an NBA fan, you probably caught Yao Ming’s PSA during the game over the weekend.

From http://www.youtube.com/NBACaresVideo

He is helping us get the word out that survivors of the earthquake in China need our assistance.

• PSA Video
• Behind the scenes video from Yao Ming’s PSA taping

RELATED:

• Information on both the American Red Cross and International Federation response in China
• Join our Facebook Cause

• Rockets.com
• Club Yao
• Look to the Stars Celebrity Blog
• Inside Hoops

The above is from RedCrossChat.org

Family First Aid and Preparedness – New Release

The fourth volume in the Be Red Cross Ready Safety Series, A Family Guide to First Aid and Emergency Preparedness provides crucial information needed during a medical emergency or regional disaster, and also serves as a resource parents can use to teach their children how to respond to these types of emergencies. The tabbed, full color reference guide also includes a companion DVD that enhances learning with demonstrations of the steps needed to prepare for and respond to an emergency. The guide takes a positive approach to learning, and fun interactive activities get the whole family involved. Topics include:

Preventing injuries How to respond to medical emergencies Creating a family emergency preparedness plan Assembling an emergency preparedness kit Activity pages to help parents present preparedness information to children Special instructions for specific disasters

Purchase this new guide online at My Red Cross Store

6 Reasons to Learn CPR

• 80% of Cardiac Arrests happen in the home
• Only 6.4% of Cardiac Arrest Victims survive because people witnessing the incident do not know CPR
• Over 200,000 people die of Sudden Cardiac Arrest every year.
• 50,000 of the 200,000 deaths yearly could be prevented
• For Every minute that an AED is unavailable, the victim has a 10% less chance of survival
• Once the heart stops beating, brain death occurs in 4 to 6 minutes.Performing CPR provides oxygen to the brain and other vital organs to give the victim the best chance of full recovery after EMS takes over.If CPR is given within the first four minutes of a cardiac arrest, the chances of survival double.

Call (815) 963-8471 and sign up for a CPR class today! Or visit our website at www.rockriver.redcross.org

Did you know the Rock River Chapter of the American Red Cross is on MySpace & YouTube?

Yes, we are on MySpace and it’s a great way to keep in touch with what’s going on at our chapter.

http://www.myspace.com/redcrossrockriverchapter

Be our friend today it’s free and a great way to keep in touch. In addition to our MySpace page we also have a YouTube Channel.

http://www.youtube.com/rockriverredcross

Right now our channel has a few videos and our mini-movie promoting Rock’n for the Red. If you have a video you’d like to share that relates to the Red Cross please contact us. These are just a couple of ways for you to find out what’s going on at the Rock River Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Compression Only – First Aid and CPR for Everyone

As part of a national campaign encouraging Americans to Be Red Cross Ready, the American Red Cross has developed the First Aid and CPR for Everyone kit — an at-home tool for practicing compression-only Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).

The First Aid and CPR for Everyone kit is a portable, reasonably priced practice tool that can be used at home, in the office, in classrooms or anywhere it is convenient to practice your skills. The box set features an illustrated guide to demonstrate hand placement on the chest and a compression practice tool to help measure just the right amount of pressure needed to properly administer chest compressions.

Other items included in the kit are the full-length DVD and Emergency First Aid Guide. The kit also includes a full-length instructional DVD, featuring Super Bowl XLI MVP Peyton Manning, with easy to follow outlines for basic first aid, building a first aid kit, warning signs of a stroke and what to do in a cardiac emergency. The accompanying Red Cross Emergency First Aid Guide is a useful tool to quickly reference the skills demonstrated on the DVD. As a bonus, the kit comes with the Emergency Action Steps Wallet Card, which offers instructions and a full pictorial on how to help someone suffering a cardiac emergency.

As the nation’s leading provider of CPR training, the Red Cross developed the First Aid and CPR for Everyone kit in order to address the merits of compression-only CPR and the public’s concern for performing rescue breathing. While this innovative product is not intended to replace the skills learned or the certification gained by participating in a Red Cross training course, the product does allow the public to become familiar with relevant lifesaving information and skills.

Put a new spin on your next holiday party or family get-together by throwing a CPR Party. Across the nation people are replacing the usual party games with CPR parties that are not only fun but help everyone learn potentially lifesaving skills. First Aid and CPR for Everyone makes a great party favor for people of all ages.

First Aid and CPR for Everyone, along with other unique holiday gifts, can be purchased online through the local Red Cross Chapter or online at MyRedCrossStore.org

To find out how to receive full Red Cross First Aid and CPR/ Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training and certification, contact your local chapter at 815.963.8471

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.

SOURCE American Red Cross

Rock River Red Cross Opens MyRedCrossStore.org to the public!

Shop MyRedCross.org Store and stock up on emergency preparedness kits, first aid supplies, reference guides, Red Cross apparel, and baby wear while supporting the American Red Cross mission of helping families prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

The store’s products include water safety handbooks, first aid reference manuals, disaster supplies kits, vintage t-shirts, and more items to help your family and workplace prepare for emergencies and disasters.

Visit MyRedCrossStore.org today!

American Red Cross is there supporting military, families

Today’s American Red Cross is keeping pace with the changing military. Using the latest in computer and telecommunications technology, the Red Cross sends communications on behalf of family members who are facing emergencies or other important events to members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving all over the world.

These communications are delivered around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

While providing services to 1.4 million active duty personnel and their families, the Red Cross also reaches out to more than 1.2 million members of the National Guard and the Reserves and their families who reside in nearly every community in America.

Locally, the Rock River Chapter has assisted 378 military members and their families in times of crisis while providing 19 international tracing services.

The chapter has recently begun to develop the VIDITalk project. VIDITalk is a powerful, cost effective, easily implemented solution to improve communications. It enables loved ones to easily create and send high-quality personal video messages (VIDIs) from their computer to their friend or relative serving our country overseas on high-speed or dial-up connections. The user creates a video message on their computer where it is automatically compressed, encoded, and sent to the hosting server. The VIDITalk server returns a hyperlink to the creator for placement into email, instant messages or any electronic document. Recipients click on the link and view the streamed video message in a customized playback screen using Microsoft Windows Media Player.

The American Red Cross’ legendary service to the military has received its share of detractors over the years. An outstanding grievance is the story about the Red Cross selling coffee and doughnuts instead of giving them away to military personnel during World War II.

This unfortunate policy came into being because service agencies in Britain helping British military personnel were less well-financed than the American Red Cross.

Thus, these agencies were forced to charge British military members for the same items that American service members were getting free from the American Red Cross.

To avoid further embarrassment to the British, who were playing host to thousands of U.S. troops, the U.S. secretary of war requested that the American Red Cross begin charging American service members for such items as coffee and doughnuts in its canteens. The Red Cross interpreted this request as a wartime demand and complied so that it could continue aiding U.S. troops. However, the Red Cross sold items at or below cost and never profited a penny from these sales.

Since the end of World War II, the American Red Cross has not charged military personnel— not in the Korean, Vietnam, or Persian Gulf conflicts, for example. If you were 126 years old, chances are there would be a lot of stories about you — and some of them wouldn’t be true!

Community-based military members and their families are entitled to the same valuable Red Cross emergency services as full-time active duty personnel. When your doctor, your pharmacist, or your neighbor is mobilized or deployed with the Reserve or National Guard, the American Red Cross is there.

We keep them in touch with their families at home, verify emergency leave information, secure emergency financial assistance and help families cope with separation when their loved ones are far from home in defense of our country. For information on Armed Forces Emergency Services feel free to contact the Rock River Chapter at: 815-963-8471.

Cedric A. Johnson is community relations specialist for Rock River Chapter of the American Red Cross.