Chapter News

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First Aid and CPR home tool kits available

As the nation’s leading provider of CPR training, the Red Cross developed unique in-home training kits, “First Aid and CPR for Everyone", to provide a quick and easy way to learn correct cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills that can save lives and to address the public’s concern about rescue breathing. The kits are especially useful for individuals who do not need CPR certification and who might not otherwise take a CPR course.

The compression-only practice kits are portable tools that can be used at home, in the classroom, in the office or anywhere it is convenient to practice skills. Included is an educational DVD and instructional booklet that makes it easy for anyone of almost any age to follow. The “First Aid and CPR for Everyone” project was introduced in December by National Red Cross to encourage Americans to “Be Red Cross Ready.”

The in-home kits will be available for a $10 minimum suggested donation to the Red Cross chapter in your community.

The Red Cross is there for you in times of emergency; this effort could bring your family lifesaving assistance one day. Support the Red Cross and change a life, starting with your own.

How do you get “Red Cross Ready” for disasters and emergencies?
1) Get a kit    2) Make a plan    3) Be informed

Chapter to celebrate 20th anniversary of its Christmas Day Dinner

The local Red Cross is planning the 20th anniversary of the Christmas Day Dinner that was begun in 1989 following Hurricane Hugo’s devastation along the South Carolina coastline. Janice Ash Sialiano, who worked as a spontaneous volunteer doing mass feeding following the hurricane, brought the Christmas Day Dinner idea to the local Red Cross board realizing many individuals were still in crisis. She then spent many years serving on the chapter’s Board of Directors, and even after fulfilling her term, has headed the fundraising and volunteer coordination of this project each year.

This year’s dinner will again be prepared at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Hotel Convention Center under direction of volunteer chef Mark Rybicki and transported to specific area churches including First Presbyterian in Myrtle Beach and Belin United Methodist in Murrells Inlet, who have partnered with the local Red Cross for many years to provide space for the hundreds of individuals who attend the luncheon. More than 200 volunteers help cook 3,500 pounds of turkey and all the fixings for the holiday meal.

The chapter also works in partnership with area agencies that provide services to both the homeless and low income so efforts in the community are not duplicated. This year, with the economic downturn, the Christmas Day Dinner will be even more important than ever to those in the community in need of a hot meal and a warm and cheerful place to spend this special day.

2007 Report to the Community