December 16th – Send a Viditalk Holiday Message to the Troops for Friends and Family Members 6am-7pm

On Tuesday, December 16th the American Red Cross – Rock River Chapter will be on hand at the Chicago Rockford International Airport’s (RFD) Main Terminal to record VidiTalk web videos to forward to servicemen around the globe. From 6am to 7pm friends and family members can record a two-minute streaming video, which will then be e-mailed to their loved ones in the service overseas.

The Red Cross is a lifeline to members of the U.S. Armed Forces, sending communications all over the world on behalf of family members who are facing emergencies or other important events. “This project gives people the opportunity to send their support to our soldiers who, while valiantly serving our country, may need this boost from back home,” says Dr. Robert Willis, Executive Director of the Rock River Chapter.

In addition to bringing their loved one’s e-mail address to the video taping, friends and family members are also invited to bring an ornament to decorate the “Operation Tree of Honor” located in the Airport’s Main Terminal. This tree was presented to RFD by the Friends of Camp Grant in honor of the 33rd Illinois National Guard Troops who were deployed to Afghanistan on December 1st. The Friends of Camp Grant are also collecting Christmas cards to send to the Guard Division.

VidiTalk is a powerful, cost effective, easily implemented solution to improve communications. It enables users to easily create and send high-quality personal video messages (Vidis) from their computer to recipients on high-speed or dial-up connections. Vidi messages can also be streamed to cell phones and other wireless devices. 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.

Conrats to Barbara Olson Center of Hope & Dick Kunnert on Winning Excelsior & Excalibur Awards!

And the winners last night were Barbara Olson Center of Hope won the Excelsior Award who offers life skills training and job placement opportunities for 300 teens and adults with mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy and Dick Kunnert won the Excalibur Award for his work as an advocate for the mentally ill and homeless.

Those who were nominated for Excelsior included:

• Alzheimer’s Association
• American Red Cross – Rock River Chapter
• On the Waterfront
• Rockford Sexual Assualt Counseling

Judy Gard and Bob Willis of the American Red Cross Rock River Chapter attend the Rockford Register Star Excalibur & Excelsior Awards on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, at Cliffbreakers in Rockford. Photo by SCOTT MORGAN | RRSTAR.COM

Carm Herman reacts as she walks to the podium after it was announced the Barbara Olson Center of Hope won the 2008 Excelsior Award during the Excalibur & Excelsior Awards at Cliffbreakers in Rockford on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008 Photo by EDDY MONTVILLE | RRSTAR.COM

Dick Kunnert reacts after winning the 2008 Excalibur Award during the Excalibur & Excelsior Awards at Cliffbreakers in Rockford, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. Photo by EDDY MONTVILLE | RRSTAR.COM