President Obama: Honorary Chairman

by Catherine Carlton, volunteer contributor

It started with a tweet.

And has expanded to honorary chair of the American Red Cross.

President Barack Obama sent his first-ever tweet at the American Red Cross and now serves as the organizations honorary chair.

In this capacity, President Obama’s duties include appointing the chairman of the Board of Governors and designating members of his Administration to serve on the Red Cross Cabinet Council. As honorary chair, the President’s signature is on the American Red Cross Certificate of Merit National Lifesaving Award, the organization’s highest award for people who have used the skills they learned in Red Cross courses to help save or sustain a life.

President Obama’s involvement was enhanced during the earthquake in Haiti. He hit “send” on a Red Cross tweet about his visit to the Disaster Operations Center in Washington, D.C. It was his first activity in Twittersphere.

The relationship between the American Red Cross and the federal government is unique. The Red Cross is an independent entity that is organized and exists as a nonprofit, tax-exempt, charitable institution pursuant to a charter granted to us by the United States Congress. Unlike other congressionally chartered organizations, the Red Cross maintains a special relationship with the federal government.

We have the legal status of “a federal instrumentality,” due to our charter requirements to carry out responsibilities delegated to us by the federal government. Among these responsibilities are:

• to fulfill the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, to which the United States is a signatory, assigned
• to national societies for the protection of victims of conflict,
• to provide family communications and other forms of support to the U.S. military, and
• to maintain a system of domestic and international disaster relief, including mandated responsibilities under the National Response Framework coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This President's Day, we thank President Obama for his support on Twitter, during disasters and ensuring our organization has the right people leading it.

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Get Critical Twitter Alerts From @RedCrossDFW During Emergencies

by Amy Yen, Digital Communications Manager, American Red Cross North Texas Region

@RedCrossDFW is excited to be one of the organizations selected to help launch Twitter Alerts, a new feature which gives users the ability to sign up for critical notifications from verified emergency sources. That means that during a natural disaster or other public emergency, you can now receive select tweeted alerts as push notifications or text messages (or simply within your regular Twitter timeline with a special alert icon), right on your phone, so you don't miss our most important updates.

Check out this blog post from our National Red Cross blog for more details on how Twitter Alerts works. (You can also sign up to receive alerts from our National @RedCross feed!)

Here's where you can sign up free to receive Twitter Alerts from @RedCrossDFW now. (Remember, you can always unsubscribe later.) Here are some examples of the types of Alerts you can expect to receive from us:

Critical safety tips and information during severe weather or other emergency situations

Information about how to reconnect with loved ones and other crucial information to know following a disaster

Shelter locations, hotline numbers and other information about how to get help from the Red Cross following a disaster

As always, our priority on our social media feeds is to provide you with the most relevant information to keep you and your family safe before, during and after a disaster. We believe Twitter Alerts will help us make sure we're getting that information in front of as many people as possible. Please consider signing up so you can be ready, and don't forget to follow @RedCrossDFW on Twitter!

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