Together We Serve: Making the Red Cross Part of your Place of Worship’s Ministry Program

Written by Lilly Watson, staff contributor 

Churches and other places of worship are designed to host groups of people who want to come together under their common faith. While the common belief system of the congregates might be what originally brings them together, there’s usually lots of activities and groups at churches for the many hobbies that might be shared amongst members. Check a local church community board and you’ll typically find anything from quilting club, bunko, singles groups and more.

Faith Bible Church in DeSoto, Texas, had a unique idea for a new ministry group after watching Hurricane Katrina roll into the Gulf Coast on the news seven years ago. They saw people come into the Dallas area with nowhere to go and wanted to be there the next time nature put people in need of shelter. They wanted to come together as a church in service under the leadership and training of the Red Cross. 

Faith Bible Church’s impressive building, with full working kitchens, a roomy gymnasium, and special rooms that could sleep families with infants, was the perfect place to operate as a community shelter. After a few years of training and waiting for the disaster call, the church officially opened its doors to potential evacuees from Hurricane Isaac last night. 

Soon after beginning their training it was easy to see that the Red Cross has a role for all kinds of skill sets and interests on a disaster team. The ladies of Faith Bible know and love cooking for a crowd and signed on as the feeding committee. Young men from the youth group were ready to unload the trailer and pop open cots once supplies arrive. Even Pastor Andy was on hand at the opening to do what he does best in his role – lend personal support and encouragement to the staff. 

I always love hearing how new volunteers find their way to the Red Cross. The story of the people at Faith Bible Church is one that will be hard for me to ever forget. What’s better than completing your training and starting your Red Cross story alongside 50 of your fellow church members?

The Red Cross will always be ready to take volunteers, whether you’re coming solo to meet new people or you’re part of a group that wants to find new ways to grow and serve as a team. As Faith Bible Church learned last night, you never know when your Red Cross preparedness will be called upon, and we were so grateful that they took our call! 

To find out more about volunteering with the Red Cross, visit redcrossdallas.org.

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American Red Cross Using Technology to Help People Prepare for Hurricane Season

Photo courtesy of NOAA

With new predictions for an above-average 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, the American Red Cross is adding technology to the many ways it helps people to get prepared.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that 12-18 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes and 3-6 major hurricanes will occur this year. The 2011 Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1, and families can take steps now to create a family emergency plan.

To make that planning easier, the Red Cross has developed a free iPhone app that gives the location of all open Red Cross shelters. The app not only maps the location of a shelter, but also shows current capacity and population. To download the app, users can visit the Apple store and search "American Red Cross shelters." For those without an iPhone, the same shelter information also appears on the Red Cross website and can be accessed by visiting www.redcross.org and clicking on "Find a Shelter." Both are refreshed with updated information every 30 minutes.

In addition, the Red Cross Safe and Well website now allows users to update their Facebook and Twitter status when they register on the site. Safe and Well is a secure way to let your loved ones know where you are going during a hurricane evacuation or that you are "okay" in the aftermath of a disaster. If users choose to do so, they can easily let their entire network of friends and family know they are safe in one step.

"This is an ideal time to get a disaster supply kit ready, make an evacuation plan with your family, and get information on what to do during a hurricane," said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president of Red Cross Disaster Services. "It’s also the right time to learn how to locate a shelter or use Safe and Well, and new technology is making it even easier to do that."

Along with working to prepare people in the U.S., the American Red Cross is working to prepare vulnerable populations in Haiti with training in early warning systems and emergency first aid, as well as other measures, as hurricane season approaches for that country, which is still dealing with the 2010 earthquake that left so many homeless.

More broadly, the global Red Cross network has been working with the Haitian Red Cross to help Haitians better prepare for and respond to disasters. For example, an estimated 5.5 million text messages about ways to prepare for disasters have been sent to Haitians.

American Red Cross disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction programs have helped Haitians in about 40 camps prepare for heavy rains and hurricanes, and this program will expand in the months to come. Some of the activities held in these camps include emergency first aid courses, training in early warning systems (bullhorns and whistles), projects such as digging ditches and sandbagging hillsides, preparation of evacuation routes, and workshops to teach children about disaster preparedness.

In addition, Haitian Red Cross branches across the country have been strengthened with extra training for staff and new office and communications equipment. More than 1,600 people have been trained by the Red Cross in vulnerability and capacity assessment or community-based disaster management. The Red Cross has also built a Disaster Operations Center in Hinche and pre-positioned relief supplies for 25,000 families to be used during future disasters in Haiti. The American Red Cross has also helped to supply additional tarps to vulnerable Haitians whose shelters may be damaged or destroyed, and have staff on standby to provide emergency response in coordination with members of the global Red Cross network.

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