• RedCrossPDX VIDEO – Hero Jack the Chihuahua, who saved residents in an Oregon City apartment w/ his growl: http://tr.im/R901
• redcrossny Changing Lives blog story by Sharon Hawa: “Timing is everything.” http://bit.ly/dba7zP
• stlredcross New Blog: Lindsey Weber- Tuesday Trivia: And the Oscar Goes To http://ow.ly/16KYfs
• Federation (Photo of the day) Taking care of traumatized patients in #Haiti : http://bit.ly/awFAHx
• RedCrossSELA Lauren is on Spring Break – then busy recruiting the next round of #AmeriCorps – could that be you? http://tr.im/RbZQ
• redcrossink Armond Mascelli, VP of Operations for ARC Disaster Services has a letter from our government announcing that ARC is NIMS compliant.
• shaunroberts Glad to see HopCo fire depts strengthen accountability standards so that our fire fighters are better protected & fire scenes more efficient
• attiep21 Great article re: ICRC Museum in Geneva – “chacun est responsable de tout devant tous” – http://b2l.me/fdhwd

Which Red Crosser are you celebrating today?

Here’s who some of you are already thinking about:

Add your inspiration either to our Facebook page or here in the comments.

March is Red Cross Month.

That’s right. We have our very own month. Starting with Franklin D Roosevelt in 1943, every sitting President has proclaimed March as Red Cross Month.

What does this mean for you?
March is Red Cross Month is a time to celebrate your great support. Thank you for your generous gifts. You have positively changed people’s lives.

This is also the time, as FDR so eloquently suggested, for Americans to

“rededicate themselves to the splendid aims and activities of the Red Cross.”

We humbly offer a few ways you can do just that.

• Call your local chapter and find out how you can get involved today.
• Find a local blood drive and donate.
• Join us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIn
• Right click, save as those sample avatars at the top of this post and use them during March on FB, Twitter, and wherever else you like. Want to make different avatars for us? Go for it! We’d love to see them – leave links to them in the comments of this post.

• Google Map: Red Cross Haiti Relief Efforts
  [Recently updated map of where we're working in Haiti]

• redcross.parsons.edu
  [We're not sure what this is quite yet, but we think we love it]

• Relief…
  [Home fire in Omaha turns ... adorable]

• The big picture
  [effects of social media in helping Haiti]

• Our Haiti
  [Red Cross volunteers on the USNS Comfort created their own website]

I miss Haiti. I miss the people. I miss feeling inspired, in awe, in the thick of it, alive amidst nearly a quarter of a million dead. I miss the sun beating down on my hair and the dust in my mouth. I miss holding the survivors’ hands, listening intensely to their words, the photos they pressed into my hand. I miss closing my eyes to voices singing into the night and awakening to sounds of the city coming back to life. I miss every minute meaning so much.

I bandaged wounds, knowing their open sores would heal long before their broken hearts or homes. I tossed boxes of life-saving supplies down the lines of people wearing the same red and white symbols of hope from Haiti, Colombia, Iran, Italy, the Dominican Republic, Luxembourg, Israel, Spain, Korea, Croatia, Belgium, France, Japan, Turkey, Canada, China, the US and so many places. I led a fragile grandmother to a chair in the shade, gated away from the crowded lines of humanity waiting for supplies. Then I retrieved her relief supplies which a youthful Haitian Red Cross volunteer carried up the hill to the old woman’s makeshift living space. We drew on the strength and resilience apparent all around us in the tent cities to push and expand our relief machine around the clock.

Mat tells me he saw the numbers for the first time since he arrived two weeks ago and was floored. I remember not reading a single statistic while I was there, too consumed by the gritty life and death reality all around me. So, I held my breath, not knowing if the news was good or bad. “We have helped 1.3 million people to date, can you believe it?” I exhaled.

He told me about the boy he met in the German Red Cross field hospital, erected in the Carrefour soccer stadium just days before I left. The child lost his entire family– and his leg– in the earthquake. I can see Mat, a big kid himself, playing games at his bedside, no translation required.

“What’s it like to leave here?” he asks me. “I can’t imagine not being here.”

Expect the shudder from a truck driving by to feel like an aftershock. Your heart will pound until you ground yourself. Expect withdrawal from the lack of information juxtaposed with a barrage of news-that-happened-while-you-were-gone hitting you like a cement block. A broken cement block like the remnants of so many houses and suddenly your mind whisks you back to Haiti.

Expect spontaneous tears at inopportune moments. Remind yourself that it’s normal and just breathe and ride the wave. You will have to unpack all those little boxes you hid deep inside yourself– images, sounds, smells, feelings, inconsistencies and frustrations that you had to pack away in the moment so you could do your job.

Focus and be strong, you told yourself while in Haiti. It’s what you had to do during those weeks on that half-island that lies somewhere on the road between hell and hope.

When you are home, nothing will ever look the same. But that’s good, I tell Mat. It keeps Haiti on your mind.

Yesterday I met Uri Shacham, an Israeli paramedic from the Magen David Adom (MDA, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross) working in the Red Cross-administered University Hospital in Port au Prince. He was sporting a smart white baseball cap with a red crystal surrounding the red Shield of David.

“Hi I’m a volunteer from the American Red Cross,” I introduced myself. “Wanna swap hats?” I knew I’d be the envy of my Red Cross colleagues to score a hat like this, on the first major disaster relief operation where the new symbol is being used.

“Sure, what do you have?” Uri asked. I offered him my cap from the Tsunami operation. “Really, you sure?” We traded our treasures in mutual delight. As we are both paramedics, we quickly and excitedly began bantering about our work and became fast friends.

Today, joined by Judy Nicholson, a volunteer from the American Red Cross, I was back at the hospital. We came across another MDA paramedic and a psychosocial volunteer, both with a crystal on their red vest alongside a badge with the cross and crescent, representing our Movement’s response. I commented on the gathering of symbols.

“Oh, you should have been here earlier. People from the Red Cross and Red Crescent around the world keep approaching us.” said Keli Peretz, a paramedic and PSP.

They don’t notice each other’s symbols or national affiliation at first. They just start talking, like Red Cross workers do. Even when meeting colleagues from unlikely countries, where the governments do not get along, “They want to take our pictures together!” said the paramedic in amazement.

“We embraced, shared experiences, laughed and talked, oh, you cannot imagine,” said the relief worker with tears in her eyes. “It’s only because of the politicians. We don’t feel this way. They are our brothers and sisters. It is only here in the Red Cross that we can be together like that; that things are as they should be.”

They joked about putting some of the pictures they took on Facebook, but realized sadly that it could cause them trouble at home.

But here in this place, everyone works together regardless of anything.

What do actor Masi Oka and the Red Cross have in common?

Heroes!

In addition to starring in the TV show, Heroes, Oka is one of thousands of real-life heroes who volunteer with the Red Cross.

So just in case you’re a fan of his (and who isn’t?) I thought I’d let you know that he will be appearing on several shows this New Year’s weekend, talking about his work with the Red Cross and encouraging more people to get involved.

Here’s the rough schedule:

12/31 (Thursday) on the NBC Today Show – appearance some time in the 9:00 am hour, probably at 9:30

12/31 (Thursday) on the Carson Daly New Year’s show – appearance sometime in the 10:00 pm hour or after 11:30 pm

1/2 (Saturday) on the Weekend Today Show – appearance some time in the 8:00 am hour, probably at 8:30

“I know that being part of something bigger than myself has made a real difference in my life. With the New Year upon us, why not think about how volunteering your time or being a blood donor can make a difference to you… and others. We can all be heroes this holiday season by supporting the Red Cross.”

[Words from Masi Oka. Links created by me. Click and get involved!]

As we close down the year (and some say the decade) we are eagerly anticipating the future and all the ways technology will enhance our ability to fulfill the mission of the American Red Cross.

But…

Tradition tells us we should reflect a bit on our past, so here are the 10 blog posts from this humble site that you all visited the most this year:

1. Fort Hood Shootings: The tragic events of this day led many of you to this post. We wanted to make sure you had the most updated information about where to donate blood and how to use our Safe & Well site and you all made the post a community of sharing.
2. Holiday Mail for Heroes: Well, we’ve heard you loud and clear. You really like this program where you can send holiday cards directly to service members, their families, and veterans. We love being able to connect you all together in this way and we’re looking for more ways to do it even better in the future.
3. Target’s Bullseye Gives Facebook Contest: Thank you for visiting this post in droves and activating your networks to vote for us on Facebook. Your kind votes won $792,000 for our mission.
4. Bites for Blood: Fans of True Blood got together to create this site. HBO found it and pledged $10,000 if you all got 500,000 virtual bites from True Blood characters. And you did it.
5. CPR LOLs: You can’t get enough of the LOLCat CPR.
6. American Samoa Relief Efforts: The earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Samoa earlier this year had you all clicking to find out how you can help. You are extraordinary in times of disaster.
7. 6 Degrees of Red Cross: We played a little of the Kevin Bacon inspired game with you all. Actually, we’re always playing this game, so click through and let us know your connection.
8. I Saved a Whole Cat: This triple blood donor did some feline math to measure his contributions this year – and you guys loved it.
9. Vaccine Questions? We’ve Got Answers: H1N1 (swine flu) was a big topic this year and we’re so thankful that you all trusted us and our Chief Nurse Sharron Stanley to guide you through the sometimes confusing pandemic.
10. Home Fires Map: The daily work of the American Red Cross is astounding. We respond to an average of 200 home fires every single day across the country. So we mapped all of them to give you an idea of their magnitude.

Honorable Mentions

• We are so thankful to Robin Parker from the Oregon Trail Chapter for her timely and informative Weekly Worldwide Wrap-up that has kept us in the know throughout 2009.
• We are proud to have launched Cross the Globe podcast headed up by our own Mat Morgan.
• We welcomed the insights of our President and CEO Gail McGovern to the blog.
• Twitter was a big part of our collective lives.

Thanks for reading in 2009 and let us know what you’d like to see in 2010!

Here’s the Twitter-sized news from Red Cross chapters around the country today:

• RedCrossCTC: Red Cross Tiffany Circle members deliver more than 100 gifts to families in Fort Hood today!!! Go Red Cross!!
• ARCAGCC: Prepare a family to be strong when a U.S. military member is deployed. For info go to www.RedCross.org/gifts. #HolidayGiving
• redcrossokc: Winter is here! For #RedCross winter safety tips visit http://tinyurl.com/yekkn5v.
• RedCrossPDX: RT @Federation Today, follow #Tsunami to read the timeline of events as they happened on Dec 26, 2004
• redcrossny: Responded to VACATE @ 248-10 Hook Creek Blvd, Queens, NY 11422. Red Cross auto update.
• redcrosstc: We’re helping a family whose house burned down this AM in Vadnais Heights. Pls send warm thoughts 2 them on this cold day! #redcross
• RedCrossSELA: http://twitpic.com/tr5r0 – Picture of flooding in St. Charles Parish from 12-15-09 #nolaflood
• RedCrossBloodGA: Check out this great @fox5atlanta story on long-time platelet donor, Jack Fishman: http://bit.ly/6VS5Ax. He’s given platelets 605 times!
• RedCrossSeWi: Milwaukee DAT on scene of a fire on the southside. Nine individuals have been displaced from their home.