American Red Cross Receives Grant from Cornerstone Foundation of Northeast Wisconsin to Support Services to Armed Forces

The American Red Cross is honored to have received a grant from the Cornerstone Foundation of Northeastern Wisconsin to support Services to Armed Forces.

The Military Relief Grant will support delivery of emergency messages to services members far from home and establish a relief fund.  The activated military person and their direct family can apply for direct aid.

Brown Countyhas community-based military members.  They are without the benefits and support of being on a military base where there are reduced costs or free services for active service military members. When reservists are on active duty they receive military pay that does not replace civilian income.  The reduction of income from civilian pay to military pay can result in financial hardship on military families. 

This grant establishes a relief fund that Brown County community-based military families can apply to for emergency help. This relief fund is for non re-occurring emergency help for families who are on active duty now or have been on active duty within the past 24 months prior to applying. The hardship must be primarily due to deployment or active military service. 

“The financial pressure faced by members of our military and their families just compounds the strain that overseas deployments present,” said Judy Gregory, Emergency Services Director, American Red Cross. “The Military Relief Grant can assist these families in paying for those unexpected expenses.”

The fund can be used for help with utility bills, rent/mortgage payments, security deposits, daycare assistance, food, and/or outstanding medical or dental bills.

Applications will be accepted starting May 1, 2011. All applications received will go to a review committee for final approval and allocation.

For more information or to request an application for assistance please call Judy Gregory, Emergency Services Director for the American Red Cross at 920-227-4281 or lakelanddoor@arclakeland.org

 About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

Barbara Behling Shares her Red Cross Deployment Experience

By Barbara Behling, regional community development officer for the Amercan Red Cross Northeast Wisconsin

Flag flies at Lowes store in Sanford.N.C. Amazing no one was hurt.

On Sunday, April 17th I was deployed to support North Carolina as a string of deadly tornadoes had ravaged the state. As a member of the Advanced Public Affairs Team, we are responsible for the early communications between local communities, affected chapters, emergency management and national media.

This disaster presented several challenges. No mercy was shown on several counties; more than twenty people were killed, hundreds of home destroyed, thousands damaged, and the scope of involvement from all partners (Red Cross, FEMA, Southern Baptist, Search & Rescue, Salvation Army, Tide Loads of Hope, etc) was immense.

More than a dozen shelters were established for temporary housing. In each, we coordinated “I’m safe and well” messages to families frantically searching for their loved ones. We provided a warm place to sleep, showers, hot food, snack, activities for the kids (this included an Easter Basket delivery made by local school group, with financial support from a local business). Most of all, we provided a respite of silence, support and hope.

My two favorite “safe and well” connections were regarding a 91-year old grandmother and her family out of state. On an even larger scale, we reconnected a military family near Fort Bragg with her deployed husband in Kuwait via assistance from their Puerto Rican family and the Puerto Rican Red Cross.

Our Counseling teams were working one-on-one with families who lost a loved one in the storms. They listened, supported funeral arrangements, encouraged the grieving process to continue, they cried and hugged each family member left behind. 

In neighborhoods, our damage assessment teams were recording the storms carnage so that we could provide additional financial assistance to storm victims. Each families needs are different and through the client casework process, we listened, documented and supported emergency basic needs.

Partnerships which were well established and those that “popped-out” of the blue were heart-warming. The Tides Loads of Hope cloth washing service was activated in two communities. The Southern Baptists were cooking food and our emergency vehicles delivered it door-to-door. The media was consummate partner, they ran stories of where people could stay, what emergency numbers to call, hosted telethons and more.

While Mother Nature wrath of destruction was at her worst. The people of North Carolina were at their best. It’s this collective spirit that will prevail.

Going Head to Head for the American Red Cross; Still Time to Vote!

Join us as part of the Heroes for the American Red Cross campaign, area stylists are competing in Going Head to Head for the American Red Cross to be the top fundraiser while helping to raise awareness of the services provided by your LOCAL chapter.

From April 1st thru April 30th, for every $1 donated 1 vote will be tallied.  Donations benefit the Scenic Shores Chapter, serving Calumet, Manitowoc and Shegboygan counties.

For more information contact Cindy Vana at 920-684-6601 or vanac@mcredcross.org  or click HERE

 
Participating Salons & Barbershops: 
  • Hot Heads – Brillion
  • Image by Design – Kiel
  • Madison Style – Chilton
  • A Cut Above – Two Rivers
  • Creative Touch – Two Rivers
  • Crew’s Corner Barbershop – Manitowoc
  • GJ’s Salon ‘N Spa – Two Rivers
  • J Pennae & Associates – Manitowoc
  • Lords ‘N Ladies – Manitowoc
  • Rose Colored Glasses – Manitowoc
  • Southside Barbershop – Manitowoc
  • Twisted Scissors – Manitowoc
  • All Dolled Up / All Suited Up Salon & Spa – Plymouth
  • Beauty Within Hair, Nails & Tanning – Plymouth
  • BELLE AMI Salon & Spa – Elkhart Lake
  • Entourage Salon & Spa – Sheboygan
  • Falls Salon & Spa – Sheboygan Falls
  • Hair Graphics Salon & Day Spa – Sheboygan Falls
  • Michelle’s Shear Cuts Barber Shop – Random Lake
  • NOW & ZEN Hair Industries – Sheboygan
  • Salon at Sports Core – Kohler
  • Salon Shibui – Sheboygan
  • Shavers Stylists – Sheboygan
  • Shear Imagination – Cedar Grove
  • Styles on Broadway – Sheboygan
  • Tangles Hair Salon – Plymouth

 

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.