Hello Red Cross Club Members!

We are looking to you all to help promote the American Red Cross for Red Cross Month, which is coming up in March. Your club can participate by creating a showcase, large poster, mural, public service announcement, or any other type of creative display showcasing the American Red Cross in your community, as well as your club.

Each entry will be judged on its adherence to the Red Cross Mission, overall appeal, relevance to the Red Cross, and visibility. WINNING CLUBS WILL RECEIVE MONEY FOR FUTURE PROJECTS! Please share this video with your club to learn more about the contest!! For more info contact Julie at phenisj@usa.redcross.org or 313-494-2855.

Watch the video, share with your club, and win some funds for your club!

- Donate blood! If you are 17 years or older (or 16 with parental consent) you can donate blood
- Host a blood drive at your school
- Volunteer at a blood drive
- Encourage a friend or family member to donate blood

Visit redcrossblood.org for more information.

MLK Day of Service, January 16th

1. Thank a soldier.
It’s always a good time to write a letter to a soldier thanking them for their service to our country. A quick Google search will show you plenty of websites that assist you in getting your letter overseas and into the hands of someone who could use some encouragement.

2. Donate blood.
Are you 17 or older? Do you want to save lives? This is a very easy way to help people! Want to know more? Find the facts at www.redcrossblood.org
16 year olds can also give, they will just need a parental consent form – check out the website for more info.

3. Take a class.
First Aid/CPR/AED… Babysitting… these are two great classes you can take which A) prepare you for helping others and saving lives and B) could help prepare you for a job! It’s a win win. Visit http://www.redcross.org/en/takeaclass for more info.

Hi SEM Red Cross Club Members,

I hope you are all doing well. I just wanted to remind you all about World Aids Day on December 1, 2011. This year marks the 30th year since the discovery of AIDS. Currently there are an estimated 33-40 million people in the world living with HIV/AIDS; approximately 1.1 million of those infected are currently living in the United States. Of those approximately 1.1 million people, 12,850 of them are living in Southeastern Michigan. The city of Detroit alone has 7,560 people currently infected with HIV/AIDS, and the US Department of Health estimates that every 9.5 minutes someone in the Untied States becomes infected with HIV. Why all the numbers? Sometimes we need a reminder that HIV/AIDS is not just a crisis happening in Africa or some far away country. It is also a crisis happening in our own communities.

On December 1, let us all take some time out of our busy schedules and do something to raise awareness and prevention about HIV/AIDS in our community, country, and the world. Send out a tweet or Facebook post about testing site locations, wear your red ribbons/wristbands to show support, donate to local and international organizations working to prevent HIV/AID. You could also attend a workshop or awareness rally, or your club could host a workshop to educate your fellow peers. It does not have to be anything big it could just be a peer led discussion. Education and awareness is the key in preventing the transmission of this deadly disease. I included a list below of resources as well as upcoming events being held by local community organizations.

- Lisa, MSW Intern
Email me at chinl@usa.redcross.org

World Aids Day Detroit – http://www.worldaidsdaydetroit.com/
• November 29, 2011 by 12 p.m. “Get to Zero” Poster Competition
- Poster design following the theme: “Getting to Zero”. All entries must be of print-ready quality at 300 dots per inch (dpi) and at full poster size of 18” x 24”. Poster can be a vertical or horizontal design. A web-resolution JPEG file of 72 pixels per inch (ppi) in the dimensions of 648 x 864 pixel.
- Top three finalists in each category will win a $100 and prizes as well as an invitation for you and a guest to attend World AIDS Day Detroit’s private reception with Jeanne White-Ginder, and will have VIP tickets to the evening event. The artist of the winning submission in each category will win a $500 gift card and prize package and will also be given the opportunity to present the winning poster.

• November 29, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. – The Silence Is Broken Vol. I Concert Film Premiere
- Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
- Tickets cost $20

• November 30th, 2011 – Detroit World AIDS Day Commemoration
- Ecumenical Theological Seminary
- Gather to remember the dead, pray for the living, and draw strength for the journey. Together we will share words of remembrance, strength, and action. Meal and fellowship to follow the service.
- Cost is Free

• December 1, 2011 – Michigan Department of Community Health World AIDS Day Meeting
- MDCH hosts community meeting for Detroit-area schools and community members with educational sessions, workshops and special 30 years of AIDS presentation

• December 1, 2011 – Annual World AIDS Day Program
- The event starts with lunch at noon and the program begins at 1:00 and includes an HIV update (provided by one of the HIV Specialists) Consumer testimony and presentation of the Omari Mallisham award to an individual in the HIV community that has fought to make HIV treatment more effective. This year’s update will be provided by Dr. Patricia Brown, Chief of Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital and Associate Professor in Infectious Disease.
- Free event

• December 1, 2011 – “Bad Blood” Film Screening and Panel Discussion
- Public screening for documentary released in July 2010, telling the story of how HIV entered the blood supply. Panel features cast members Dr. Bruce Evatt, Dr. Dana Kuhn and Eric Weinberg
- Free event

U-M Dearborn World AIDS Day Luncheon
• December 1, 2011 – The Women’s Resource Center and Gender & Sexuality Alliance provide a luncheon to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS on campus. Kochoff Hall, University Center, 4901 Evergreen Road, Dearborn. E-mail bmjenkin@umd.umich.edu, 313-583-6445.

I hope your semesters are going well so far. My semester is going great but it has been super busy as well. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving and winter break to indulge in yummy food and spend time with my loved ones. I know most of you probably feel the same and are counting down the days until break. But as we look forward to our holiday breaks, let us remember that November and December are great months to focus on Services to the Armed Forces months here at the Red Cross.

Providing support services to veteran and current military members and their families is fundamental to the mission and history of the Red Cross. During this November and December your club can celebrate our mission and history by organizing service projects that benefit military members and their families in your community. Some fun and exciting service projects that your club can do are:

- Organizing a comfort kit drive for homeless military veterans
- Cleaning up a local veteran’s park in your community
- Volunteering at your local Veterans Association
- Collecting books and magazines and donating them to your local Veterans Hospital
- Organizing fundraisers, like sponsoring a penny wars/coin drive and donating the proceeds to local veterans associations,
- And don’t forget our Holiday Mail for Heroes Program!

If your club would like more information on getting one of these exciting service projects started at your school and in your community don’t hesitate to contact us for more information and organizational tips. We are all just an email away and would be more than happy to help you all with your project ideas.

Also, feel free to share your ideas on potential services project ideas or current service projects your clubs are doing for Service to the Armed Forces months. Share your ideas in the comment section of our blog! I know most of us love reading and writing comments because we spend hours reading Facebook comments every minute of every day. So share your service project ideas and club news in our comment section because we all benefit and they are fun to read! Good luck on the rest of your semesters and I hope you all have a happy November and December!

- Lisa, MSW Intern
Email me at chinl@usa.redcross.org

Holiday Mail for Heroes
From now until December 9, the public is invited to send holiday cards that contain messages of cheer and appreciation. The Red Cross and Pitney Bowes will then screen the cards for hazardous materials, sort and package the cards, and deliver them to military bases and hospitals, veteran’s hospitals and other locations during the holidays.

Sam Kille served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1990 to 2003. He is now the Regional Director of Communications for the Red Cross in Greater New York. Kille knows what it means to get mail when you are serving your country far from home. “It’s hard to describe what it means to get a letter from home,” he said. “And it didn’t matter who the letter was from. Somehow, mail was a validation that what I was doing was important and recognized.” You can read more on his blog, “Changing Lives, The Storybook.”

The Holiday Mail For Heroes post office box is open and ready to receive cards. Please send all mail to:
Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Please observe the following guidelines to ensure your card goes through the review process quickly:
* Only cards are being accepted. Do not send letters.
* All cards should be postmarked no later than Friday, December 9, 2011. Please be sure to affix adequate postage.
* Ensure that all cards are signed.
* Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.
* Do not include email or home addresses on the cards, as the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.
* Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos, as these items will be removed during the reviewing process.
* Please do not send cards with glitter.
* Participants should limit the number of cards they submit to 25 from any one person or 50 from any one class or group. If you are mailing a large quantity, please bundle the cards and place them in large mailing envelopes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.

Additional ways to become involved with the campaign include connecting with fellow card senders through Facebook at www.facebook.com/redcross and Twitter at www.twitter.com/redcross using the hashtag #holidaymail.

For more information and card requirements, please visit www.redcross.org/holidaymail.

With that said, I have created a Red Cross club project connected to The Measles Initiative that has two goals. The first goal: to strengthen the relationships between American Red Cross Clubs in the Southeastern Michigan region. We have a geographically and socially diverse Red Cross region. Did you know that the Southeastern Michigan region spans 7 counties? Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Monroe, and St. Clair. So, we have ties from Monroe to Macomb. Do you know anyone personally from these counties? You could be doing the exact same projects, experiencing the same successes or challenges and not even know it. At the Red Cross, we think that unity is really important – we are one Red Cross. We believe that collaboration is a powerful tool and agent of change. We think this helps raise awareness and increases the number of lives we can affect.

An example of a project that would be easy to collaborate on is The Measles Initiative. Two clubs fundraise competitively, with the same start and end date, perhaps choosing the same week, for The Measles Initiative. The clubs sell and wear lapel pins; they could have a pocket change drive under the Measles Initiative banner of “There is Change in Your Pocket”; they could sell baked goods at their schools, and recruit donors (because you can donate as an individual to The Measles Initiative). This letter contains some of these ideas.

Finally, the clubs could find a way to evaluate and celebrate the project’s completion. One way to do this would be to find a date that works for both of the clubs to meet and have a social event to discuss and celebrate completion of the project. Another way could be to set aside time in a club meeting to conference call one another. A third possibility could be for the group officers schedule a time to meet and discuss the outcome for their respective club. Additionally, each club could write an update or newsletter, with pictures and reflections to send to the other club or write a newsletter with the partnering club about your project. This newsletter could be distributed to the club’s broader community, such as a school.

Lastly, you don’t have to do The Measles Initiative – that’s just a suggestion. Here are the steps a club could take to ensure that a different project would have a similar “flavor”:

1. One club “partners” with another club for a project.
2. Two clubs agree to do a similar, the same type of, or even one, project together. Resources for suggested Red Cross club projects are available online and through contacting the Youth Coordinator.
3. The two clubs plan and run the project, with benchmarks along the way, check-points at which they will update one another.
4. The clubs will evaluate and celebrate the project’s completion together, through a party, social event, or creating a newsletter together.

I hope these ideas are encouraging, and I look forward to seeing how Red Cross clubs from across our region choose to reach out, make a difference, and be agents of change in local communities and the world!

Contact me for more information:

Lynne May
MSW Intern
American Red Cross, Southeastern Michigan Region
mayly@usa.redcross.org

The American Red Cross, Southeastern Michigan Region is far too familiar with the severity of fires and the impact they have on communities. Our chapter is the second busiest in the country when it comes to fires. To combat this issue we’ve teamed up with the DTE Energy Foundation to help kids in Detroit be able to prevent and prepare for fires. This is taking place through two different programs – Red Cross Ready and Team R.E.D.

Red Cross Ready
This fast paced, high energy, stations based program is geared toward 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and helps students learn about how to prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Students get to practice stop drop and roll, how to make an escape plan, how to test a smoke detector, recognizing fire hazards, and many other important, life-saving skills!

Students practice "stay low and go" - the sheet is "smoke" and the students practice crawling beneath the smoke to escape a fire.

Team R.E.D. (Ready for Emergencies in Detroit)
Team RED is a 12 week long, interactive, service learning style program. This program aims to educate high school students in grades 9-12 about fires, their prevalence in our area, and the many areas of the community that fires affect. Team RED also gives students an opportunity to respond to the issue of fires. In our pilot program at Osborn Upper School last spring students responded by creating an art competition for all students at their school to participate in, where all entries had to relate to fire safety and preparedness, and they also were able to guest star in a documentary called BURN (http://detroitfirefilm.org/). This year we are working with the Medicine and Community Health Academy at Cody High School in the fall and Southeastern High School in the spring.

Team RED students assemble comfort kits as a way of helping victims of fire in their community.