Guest Blog Post: Steve Hansen, Regional Chapter Executive – Northeast WI Region
At the Red Cross, our “elevator speech” goes something like this. The American Red Cross empowers ordinary people to perform extraordinary acts in emergency situations. We train. We mobilize. We connect donors and volunteers to those in urgent need of a helping hand. Whether it is a hurricane or a heart attack; a call for blood or a call for help, the American Red Cross is there.
The past few weeks of severe storms and floods have absolutely confirmed in my mind that our focused effort to share local resources throughout Northeast Wisconsin is working because your American Red Cross was there each and every time we were called for help! And boy, we were called often! You see, this was just the second significant test of our shared resource system since regionalization took hold under our “One Red Cross” transformation nearly three years ago. The first test came during the summer floods of 2008 and I must say our performance improved immensely.
Of course having a good plan is one thing, but having a good plan is worthless without great people to make it happen. Here, in Northeast Wisconsin and around the State, we have an unbelievable team of dedicated, compassionate, and competent staff and volunteers committed to serving our communities at the highest level possible!
One of many heartwarming examples of Red Cross compassion includes the Howard family who arrived cold and wet at the Milwaukee Glenn Hills Middle School shelter, with only one thing on their minds—staying together. Their wish was fulfilled, as they found cots, warm blankets and caring volunteers. “It’s been so nice, that we’ve been able to stay together. This was the best place for us,” Mrs. Howard says with a smile. “Reality is setting in. We lost so much, like our baby pictures in the basement. We’ll never get those back. But the most important thing was that we were able to stay together.”
Together, we truly can transform a life in crisis into a life of hope. Thank you volunteers and staff for such a terrific team effort!
Below is a chronological summary of the past three weeks demonstrating how effective we can be by leveraging, utilizing and deploying limited resources across the Region and State.
July 14 – Across the 22-county Northeast Wisconsin Region of the American Red Cross, multiple volunteer disaster action teams were activated or placed on stand-by through a coordinated regional call-down system led by Travis Waack our regional disaster manager in Manitowoc.
Working with our partners in many County Emergency Management offices, we were able to secure the Oshkosh Convention Center as a stand-by emergency overnight shelter and provide Red Cross presence within County Emergency Operations Centers including Nick Cluppert our disaster manager based in Oshkosh who was in the Winnebago County EOC the first night of the big storms.
Pat Schaeve, employee of US Bank, "Ready When the Time Comes" volunteer doing damage assesment door-to-door in Neenah, WI.
July 15 – U.S.Bank, our “Ready When the Time Comes” regional partnership was activated. The program consists of trained bank employees who are released from normal work-day activities to support local disaster relief efforts. Lindsay Geffers, the US Bank facilitator received the call early in the morning and leaped into action. They provided several volunteers that attended a morning briefing, received maps, clean-up kits and were then dispatched along with a more experienced Red Cross disaster workers to comb affected neighborhoods. Lindsay stated, “I never realized how important it was to let the community know they have support and assistance if they need it. It’s amazing to see how people can persevere through disasters – especially those that have flooded before.”
July 17 – Utilizing our regional media database Red Cross communicators Jody Weyers and Barbara Behling were able to stay in constant contact with multiple media outlets providing response updates and useful flood safety information for the public.
July 20 - Judy Gregory our disaster manager based in Green Bay received a call from the Shawno County Emergency Manager requesting Red Cross assistance due to a severe storm and possible tornado impacting the Village of Wittenberg and surrounding area with damage being reported to buildings and homes. Within a couple of hours 15 volunteers were deployed to Wittenberg including an operations manager, an emergency response vehicle with 2 drivers, 4 health services workers, 1 Shelter manager, 1 Damage assessment supervisor, 6 shelter/mass care workers including a shelter trailer equipped to serve 50 people. This crew was supported by 6 volunteers deployed from our Waupaca office.
July 22 – The disaster volunteer team from Fond du Lac led by Joyce Keyes was placed on stand-by to travel to the Red Cross in Madison to pick up Clean Up Kits to replenish our depleted supply within the region. Ultimately, the team was not deployed as our friends in Madison and Eau Claire stepped up and pulled approximately 350 kits from their shelves and delivered them to Oshkosh and Appleton. John Kost, our disaster manager in Appleton was able to immediately deliver 40 badly needed kits to Black Creek.
July 24 - The Scenic Shores Chapter was called by Calumet County Emergency Management to respond to the Village of Stockbridge. At approximately 4:00 AM, the Village received 4 inches of rain in a very short period of time. The heavy rainfall caused a swiftly moving flash floods to flow through the Village and into Lake Winnebago. Several homes had several inches of water in the primary living space on the first floor. The ECW Chapter delivered Clean Up Kits to Stockbridge and the Scenic Shores Chapter distributed them. The Scenic Shores Chapter also conducted a complete Disaster Assessment, served meals, and distributed bottled water.
Filed under: Disaster Services, Northeast WI Region | Tagged: American Red Cross, Barbara Behling, Floods, Jody Weyers, John Kost, Joyce Keyes, Judy Gregory, Lindsay Geffers, Nick Cluppert, Ready When the Time Comes, Steven Hansen, Travis Waack, U.S.Bank, WI Foods | Leave a Comment »
Monday, September 27, 2010 — The American Red Cross is on the ground in Wisconsin and Minnesota where the rains have slowed down but rivers and streams continue to rise, forcing entire neighborhoods from their homes.
