Hometown Heroes

Working with the Red Cross, we constantly hear amazing stories of generosity. Sometimes, we hear stories that take generosity to a whole new level, whether they are related to donations, rescues, service or anything in between. Last Week, ABC Good Morning America published a story about a live kidney donation that was made possible through the wonders of one of our favorite social medias: Facebook.

When Jeff and Roxy Kurze found out that Jeff’s kidneys were failing, their world was shook. Hearing the bad news that it would take approximately five years for Jeff to receive an appropriate kidney, Roxy turned to social media. By simply posting a facebook status asking anyone to forward her information on live donors with type O blood, Roxy and Jeff received the miracle they had been desperately hoping for.

Fortunately for us at the Red Cross, we get the opportunity to publicly thank individuals who have made life changing differences in the lives of others. In fact, we have the honor of recognizing everyday local heroes once a year at our annual Heroes Breakfast, which is being held on April 14. The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago is honoring 18 heroes in 11 categories. One of which, is also a live kidney donor from Evanston, IL.

After hearing from his favorite cashier at the local Jewel Osco that her kidney was failing, Dan Coyne, a school social worker, offered his matching kidney to Myra de la Vega. The two did not know each other very well, but Dan felt compelled to help. The procedure took place last spring and Myra and Dan have since become family.

Along with Dan, we have an amazing group of individuals who have all done heroic acts over the past year. We have heroes ranging from military mothers, a World War II nurse, fire fighters to even a teenager who by the age of fifteen has already made an impact to many children living with epilepsy. Take a moment to learn more about each of our local heroes.

More Than a Sign

The Minnesota Planetarium Society has sent our world into frenzy with the newly-released announcement that most of our zodiac signs have changed due to the Earth’s current alignment. According to some astrologers, Earth’s current position in relation to the Sun means that our signs, which were put into place approximately 3,000 years ago, are now outdated. As a result, date alignment with the signs shifted nearly a month causing many individuals to question their self identity. Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, there’s no doubt that the world has, literally, been shaken by this announcement.

As a Capricorn, my natural appreciation of stability has me feeling extremely uncomfortable with the news. Have we all been living a lie? Does the goat tattoo on my lower back need to be removed and replaced with a centaur? I don’t know the first thing about being a Sagittarius!

We at the Red Cross have daily experience with receiving startling news that can shake up the world on both personal and worldwide levels. We learn first-hand to expect the unexpected. Despite the unpredictable nature of our mission at the Red Cross, one factor remains stable—we believe in hope. This common denominator among disasters of any proportion allows us to persevere through the hard days knowing we have the ability to do what we do everyday. It provides us with the power to help others and stand strongly behind the Red Cross mission. We see this belief all the time. We see it in our volunteers. We see it in our donors. We see it in our staff. We see it in the victims we assist. We see the belief in all of you who believe in us and our mission.

You may or may not believe that the fate of our love lives and stubbornness means changing from a goat to a four-legged man, but when it comes to persevering through the those disasters that seem impossible, we too can say, “keep on believing.”

Hope happens. What keeps you going?

Written by David Roth & Katie Wilkes

Be on Track to a Safer Commute.

2011 has only just begun, but it is already looking like a great year for many residents of Chicago with the arrival of the CTA’s highly anticipated ‘Train Tracker.’ The Chicago Transit Authority and Mayor Richard Daley made an official announcement Saturday, January 8 that the new application was now available for use. With Chicago’s brutal winter season just beginning, it seems like the announcement of the city’s new ‘Train Tracker’ couldn’t have arrived at a more appropriate time. The new technology covers all eight of Chicago’s L-train lines and 144 train stations. Although this new tool is still in its early stages of development, the application is already available from both residents’ computers and smart-phones.

With Chicago’s L-train system being the third busiest system in the United States with over 650,000 riders each weekday, it is crucial that commuters be prepared for CTA emergencies. This past June, a highly reported track fire ignited on the Red Line just north of the Chicago platform. It left 19 injured and created a standstill with the north and southbound red line trains for approximately three hours. Although CTA mishaps of this size aren’t extremely common, emergencies of all sorts do happen no matter how much the city tries to avoid them. Even today, Monday, January 10, smoke was reported between the Lake and Grand stations of the Red Line. Although it was a false alarm, the report resulted in firefighters investigating the scene and the trains to be rerouted on the elevated tracks for a short period of time.

In order to be as prepared as possible for potential emergencies while commuting, the American Red Cross has teamed up with U.S. Department of Transportation to create helpful information for those who may find themselves in a commuter emergency.

On a Train
• If the train stops, follow the operator’s instructions quickly and calmly.
• In an extreme emergency when you must evacuate the train without the operator’s assistance, follow posted emergency procedures.

On a Station Platform
• Familiarize yourself with all the exits at the stations that you use in case you ever have to take a different exit.
• Listen for announcements and follow instructions quickly and calmly.

The American Red Cross also suggests that commuters purchase a Safety Tube, which can be found on our website. This portable emergency safety tube provides commuters with a water pouch, an individually wrapped mask, a whistle, and a foil wrapped-six-hour light stick.

For more information on commuter safety, please visit our Safety Tips page on chicagoredcross.org.

Photo credit to Christopher & AmyCrate on Flickr

The Red Cross Thanks and Recognizes Our Heroes

Don’t ask me why, but growing up I was always a history junkie. I blame it all on my 4th grade teacher because after reading Number the Stars I read every historical fiction book and watched every movie about World War II. To this day, when I think of the courageous, brave, and capable soldiers who stood in the face of danger and fought in the front lines of World War II, I envision Jude Law in Enemy at the Gates or Byron Henry from Winds of War. It wasn’t until Wednesday October 20, 2010, when I met Michael C. Bilder of General George Patton’s Third Army, author of “A Foot Soldier for Patton,” that I put a new face on these heroic soldiers I had grown up reading and learning about. It was as if all the characters I had read and watched popped out and introduced themselves to me.

Mr. Bilder served with the 5th infantry Division and fought in all five of the Third Army’s campaigns; fighting in France, Luxembourg, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. While stationed in England in 1943 Mr. Bilder received training from the American Red Cross as a “combat lifeguard” in preparation of D-Day. A combat lifeguard, while wearing 60 lbs. of equipment, must jump 25 ft. into a pool covered with burning oil. Once in the water, he had to shed his helmet, rifle, and rucksack and swim 75 yards underwater. Mr. Bilder used his newly acquired skills to dive after fallen GIs, unhook their equipment, and get them back to surface. It is for this that the American Red Cross decided to award him with the Lifesaving Award for the Professional Responder; for saving numerous GIs from drowning, including those who were previously wounded.

The American Red Cross’s Lifesaving Award is not the first award Mr. Bilder has won; in fact it is just one in a pile of impressive achievements and awards from numerous countries (one from Luxembourg, France, Czech Republic, and two from the USA). However, while all the other medals he has won (apart from his first Bronze Star Medal) have been given to him because of the number of lives he took during batter, The American Red Cross’s Lifesaver Award “is the most meaningful because it represents the lives I have saved, not taken.

Finally the day had come, all my reading was done and I was on my way to meet the heroic Mr. Bilder. As I walked into his house, saw him sitting on a big green padded lazy boy chair. When I introduced myself as an intern for the Red Cross a huge smile spread across his face and he said, “The Red Cross! The Red Cross gave me my stripes. I should be honoring them, not them me.”

As the day continued I came to realize that being a soldier isn’t about being a hero or getting awards, it is about serving your country, your people, and everything you believe in. Mr. Bilder went to Europe and fought a war far from our soil because he felt it was his duty, just as soldiers are doing today in Iraq. It is our duty as Americans to not only honor them and their courageousness, but never forget the battles and struggles they have fought to protect our liberty, democracy, and country. What they have done to protect us.

As Mr. Bilder said “I have always done amazing things I suppose, but I am really just a regular Joe.”

More pictures of our visit with Mr. Bilder

We have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, and the soldiers in the armed forces is one of them. We are inviting the public, until December 10, to send a "touch of home" to the armed forces through hoilday cards; a small effort that goes a long way and impacts the hearts of our American Soldiers who can't be home with their families this holiday season. Please, get involved and send your holiday cards today:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Support us through Bank of America

Over the last couple of days, we've been working on a video asking for support in a competition through Bank of America. The gist of the competition is that we need to recruit people to visit http://footprint.chicagomarathon.com, where they design their own digital footprint. For each person we recruit to design one of these footprints, Bank of America will donate $1 to us.

We want to win this thing! So, watch this video, go design your own digital footprint (make sure to click "The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago" at the bottom of the page so we get credit) and then send the video along to all of your contacts on Facebook, Twitter or through email! We can do this together!

Thanks for watching and sending it along for us. We'll keep you updated on our status as we recieve information from the contest administrators. Stay tuned for more details!

Enjoy a Summer Treat for the Red Cross as the Sunny Days Wind Down!

Supporting the Red Cross never tasted so good!

Join the Berry Chill “Culture Club” and select the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago as your charity and they will donate 3% of each purchase you make back to the Red Cross. Plus, get a 10% bonus each time you add value to your Berry Chill Culture Club Card.

Berry Chill has lcoations at LaSalle and Washington, State and Ontario, Ogilvie's Station, Ravinia, and US Cellular Field, and can be enjoyed by all as it is lactose and gluten free. This all-natural yogurt bar is the first of its kind in the Chicagoland area, offering a daily menu of our Original chilled yogurt (a tangy, frozen treat) and rotating flavors that include Chocolate Amaretto, Pina Colada and Pink Guava. More than a dozen fresh-fruit toppings are also available, such as starfruit, papaya and pineapple; and more than 30 dry toppings including Milk & Honey granola, Girl Scout cookies, mochi and popular cereals. You can customize your yogurt or choose from a list of signature creations. Night revelers can delight in the fact that Berry Chill is open from 8 a.m. until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. From Sunday through Thursday, Berry Chill is open from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m.

So, indulge in this tasty treat and feel good about giving back to the Greater Chicago Red Cross!

This is one of the many ways your everyday activities can help the Red Cross. To see how shopping, banking, and even searching the internet can support the chapter, visit our website.

- Carli Franks, Manager of Coporate Partnerships at the American Red Cross of Greater Chciago

World Refugee Day: Saturday, June 20.

We often become so involved with our immediate communities that we forget to take a look at humanitarian aid from a global perspective. I recently heard about tomorrow’s World Refugee Day and did a little research about people who have been displaced from or fled their homes. I found some startling facts:

• There are about 14 million refugees and asylum seekers across the globe. (2008 World Refugee survey)
• The number of refugee admissions to the United States was set at 80,000 last year. The policies regarding refugee admissions to the United States are designated by the State Department. Refugees are entitled to refugee status here for one year. After one year, refugees are eligible to become legal permanent residents, and after five years, they can apply for citizenship.
• There are 2,800 refugees expected to settle in Chicago this year. There were 2,412 refugees who settled here last year, according to the World Refugee Day Web site

If you do the math, considering there are more than 6 billion people in the world, 14 million refugees is a significant part of the Here are some observations to put it into a better perspective:

• If all refugees came together and founded their own city, it would be the eighth largest city in the world – larger than Dhaka, Bangladesh and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• The number of refugees in the world is greater than the population of the entire state of Illinois. In fact, the population of refugees is greater than the population of any state, except for California, Texas, New York and Florida.

Refugees across the world are helpless – but not hopeless. We can work together to recognize their hardships and help them rebuild their lives after having experienced such unimaginable circumstances. World Refugee Day takes place every year across the globe (this year it’s Saturday, June 20 in Chicago), and American Red Cross chapters across the country will be taking part to show their support for the cause. World Refugee Day draws attention to the plight of refugees, celebrates their courage and renews commitment to solve refugee problems. We’ll also recognize the contributions refugees make to their communities.

The Greater Chicago Red Cross does work with refugees on a daily basis through our International Tracing work. Our highly trained team of tracing volunteers works with national societies around the world to help reconnect families that have been separated by war, civil disturbance or natural disasters. For more information, or to locate a family member, contact our International Services department at (312) 729-6100 or visit the Red Cross International Committee Family Links website.

Gentry Lassiter is an intern in the Marketing & Communications department of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago

Get out there and meet some people this summer!

Summer is a great time to get out and meet people, but it’s not always the best time to network. Many young professionals are going on vacation and working to spend time outside in the warm summer weather (albeit Chicago’s recent dismally frigid temperatures) rather than at networking events. Considering there have recently been a lot of soon-to-be young professionals graduating from universities throughout the greater Chicago area within the last couple of weeks, this is quite a shame. Professional networking is one of the most powerful tools in getting a job these days.

I’ve personally found both social and professional networking to be one of the most gratifying practices available. Most jobs I’ve gotten – including the internship here with the Greater Chicago Red Cross – have been the results of some form of networking. It’s not only a great way to meet potential coworkers and employers, but it’s also a fun way to make new friends, particularly if you’re new to an area like I am.

The Auxiliary Board of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago is teaming up with the National Association of Asian American Professionals to help facilitate some personal and professional networking this week with Flirting for Disaster at Griffin Lounge (324 Chicago Avenue downtown). It’ll be a great way to meet new people and check out one of Chicago’s hottest venues for cheap – ticket prices are just $20 if you order in advance and $25 at the door.

The night kicks off with an hour-long Smirnoff cocktail reception until 7 p.m., sponsored by the American Red Cross. Come out, bring your friends and enjoy the event!

Gentry Lassiter is a Marketing and Communications intern with the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago.