IHL Action Campaign Training—Raid Cross

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Seven college students from Columbia and Fordham Universities played the roles of civilians, soldiers, prisoners of war and humanitarian workers during this year’s Raid Cross event, held November 16 at Greater New York Red Cross regional headquarters in Manhattan.

Raid Cross is a role-playing simulation activity that helps students ages 14 to- 21 to understand basic rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which protects human life and dignity during times of war. Role-playing helps participants see conflict situations from different perspectives.

Each participant in last week’s event is an IHL Action Campaign team leader who will work with a group of Red Cross high school volunteers during the Spring semester. The students will create an action campaign both within their schools and in their surrounding communities to spread awareness about the rules of war.

“This year’s cohort of IHL Team Leaders is especially impressive,” said Amanda Crabbe, Greater New York regional manager, Youth Services. “They are passionate and committed to the program. I know that when paired with the Red Cross High School Club members, they will come up with creative action campaigns. I cannot wait to see the end results!”

For Red Cross Volunteer, Typhoon Haiyan Hits Close to Home

Story and photo by Anita Salzberg

Since Typhoon Haiyan swept through the Philippines this past weekend, Ronnie Rigos knew he wanted to throw himself into the American Red Cross Haiyan relief effort. Rigos, a 25-year New York resident now living in Brooklyn, and a five-year Greater New York volunteer, hails from Quezon Province, about 45 miles north of Manila, the Philippine capital city.

“I literally jumped at the opportunity to be part of this response,” Rigos said. “It means so much to me personally.”

He, along with fellow volunteers and employees, has been eagerly taking calls from people searching for loved ones in the area devastated by Haiyan. From filling out tracing inquiries on missing relatives, to providing information on ways to support the Red Cross International Response Relief Fund, to offering emotional support and “being there” for people in this difficult time, Rigos is doing it all, including taking on a leadership role in the Greater New York response.

“I've reached out to local Filipino-American community leaders, established point-of-contacts and helped coordinate the services our local Red Cross is offering,” he said.

Rigos’ mother, sisters, brothers and other relatives remain in Quezon Province. Though they are safe, he has yet to hear from distant relatives and close family friends who may have been in the region hit by the typhoon.

He says he regards the American Red Cross, and especially the Red Crossers in the Greater New York region, as an extended family, and wants to thank everyone in the region, “For their enormous care, warmest of thoughts, awesome support, thoughtful kindness, and for being there, always.”

Red Cross Participates in Veteran’s Day Parade

Photo: Evan Marcy

For the fifth year in a row, volunteers from the American Red Cross Greater New York Region handed out hot beverages to veterans and service members marching in the Veteran’s Day Parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Nov 11.

Seven Greater New York volunteers and five JetBlue volunteers staffed a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle located at 26th St. and Madison Ave. In addition to hot beverages, they handed out snacks and bottled water donated by JetBlue, as well as information on the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces program and the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign. An estimated 500 veterans and service members were served.

See more photos here.

Red Cross Volunteers Support Typhoon Haiyan Relief Effort in Greater NY

Red Cross volunteer Felicity von Sück is helping staff the Greater NY Red Cross Call Center at regional headquarters in Manhattan.

New Yorkers trying to locate loved ones in the Philippines as well as those coping with the emotional trauma caused by the storm, can phone the call center at 1-877-REDCROSS (877-733-2767) for assistance.

“I’m here to be as helpful as I can to the people of the Philippines who can’t get in touch with each other,” Felicity said. “Hopefully I can help make things a little better.”

David Narvaez (below), another Red Cross volunteer helping out in the Call Center, said, “I’m from the New York area and I want to make an impression on the Philippine people that we’re with them, in this crisis. My wife is from the Philippines so I have an added interest in helping people.” 

Canvassing in Woodside, Queens




Sean Mckee (above, right) and Kanhong Lin (above, left) are both emergency responders for the NPRC AmeriCorps program at the Red Cross with Sean Murphy (back left) and Tyrell Tomlinson (back right). They spent part of Tues., Nov. 13, in Woodside, Queens, canvasing in Woodside, Queens, to let the Filipino community know about Red Cross tracing services available to those who are unable to reach loved ones after Typhoon Haiyan.

Sean said, “When we told people ‘We’re here for a way to get in contact with your loved ones,’ people immediately lit up and said they wanted to know more.”

Kanhong Lin added, “It’s good for the Red Cross to be out in the community and show interest and say, ‘We know you have family back home and we want to work with you.’”

“I couldn’t have made it without the Red Cross.”

Randall Cain and his maternal grandmother, Christmas 1969. Cain, just 21, was enroute to being assigned to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It could be said that Randall Cain, a former Marine and Coast Guard member who lives on Staten Island, is grateful to the American Red Cross six times over—as many times as he has been helped by the Red Cross during the past four decades.

Forty-four years ago, in May 1968, Cain was a young Marine serving at Camp Pendleton in San Diego when his mother underwent brain surgery in Washington, D.C. The Red Cross, through its Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) program, contacted the Marine Corps to confirm the surgery, then loaned Cain emergency funds to fly to the East Coast and back.

Although his mother had not been expected to survive more than 24 hours, she lingered in a coma for two weeks, and Cain was able to be with her and his family during that time.

“I was just 19 and so grateful,” he said.

Cain left the Marines in 1972. Two years later, just before joining the Coast Guard, he was living in Brandenburg, Kentucky when a tornado struck, “killing 40 some people,” Cain recalls.

Although Cain survived, his apartment was destroyed. “The Red Cross provided me with blankets, silverware, cooking utensils and food that was lost,” he said. “They took care of everybody.”

Fast forward to 1984. Cain was stationed with the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico when the Red Cross again contacted his command, this time with the sad news that his maternal grandmother, who was in her 90s, had passed away. Within six months, they reached out to Cain’s command again; his paternal grandmother, also in her 90s, had died. Thanks to these notifications, Cain was able to attend both funerals, in Texas and Kentucky, respectively.

Thirteen years later, in October 1997, Cain’s dad, Carson, suffered a heart attack. Once again, the Red Cross verified this situation to the Coast Guard, and Cain was able travel from Puerto Rico to Virginia to be at his Dad’s side for a week. Two months later, the Coast Guard released Cain to fly home for his dad’s funeral after another Red Cross notification.

Cain mentioned that the Red Cross had also played a role in Carson Cain’s military career, after his unit, the 60th Coastal Artillery, Battery E, surrendered to the Japanese at the Battle of Corregidor in the Philippines May 5, 1942.

“I read a few books by survivors of the imprisonment,” said Cain. “The authors, as I recall, mentioned receiving Red Cross packages. So I believe when my dad was transferred to a POW camp in Japan, he may have occasionally gotten Red Cross packages.”

Randall Cain retired from the Coast Guard as a Chief Warrant Officer in 2000, after 26 years of service. For the past 12 years he has worked as a clerk for the NYPD at Manhattan’s First Precinct, located near the Holland Tunnel.

Most recently, this spring, Cain was scheduled for a surgery of his own—to have a pacemaker installed. His son Christian, 23 and a Marine, was stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. Cain contacted the Red Cross by phone, asking to have an SAF representative verify the surgery to Chris’s command. Chris returned home in time to see his father through a successful surgery.

“Now you just call a 1-800 number and you’re connected,” said Cain, noting how easy it has become to receive help from the Service to the Armed Forces program.

“I couldn’t have made it without the Red Cross,” he concluded.

Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) provides humanitarian support to service members, veterans and their families around the clock and around the globe, all under a trusted symbol. Through this program, the American Red Cross facilitates emergency messages about urgent news from home—a serious illness, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one—to service men and women anywhere in the world, including ships at sea, embassies and isolated military units.

Our local SAF program supports our military community in variety of ways, including support to local VA Hospitals, Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point and attending events such as deployment briefings, welcome home ceremonies and other supportive community events such as Fleet Week and the Veterans’ Day Parade.

I was so proud to wear the Red Cross logo.

Red Cross volunteer Elise Wallace and daughter Lucy.

See Team Red Cross Marathon photos here.

Five-year Red Cross volunteer Elise Wallace was thrilled to work as a spotter at this year’s 2013 ING NYC Marathon, supporting the New York Road Runners medical professionals post-finish line. Spotters helped locate and support runners who might require medical attention/evaluations by event medical staff. Additionally, spotters cheered the runners as they finished the grueling 26.2 mile race.

Elise reflected on how it felt to volunteer for the Red Cross at the marathon:

It's hard to put my feelings about yesterday into a short quote but I would say that it was honestly one of the best days of my life. I was so proud to wear the Red Cross logo as I greeted and helped the runners. Whether it was just a big high five or a situation of approaching someone with a real medical need, I found that everyone was comforted by the presence of a volunteer from the Red Cross. 

I approached some runners and others approached me and every time I felt that I had made a difference in their Marathon experience. It is so rare to be a part of a huge human effort that is so positive and good. I was really grateful to be there! 

Needless to say, Elise was also intensely proud of Lucy for completing the race for the Alzheimer's Association in Elise's father's name. 

"The Red Cross … are like the family you had, but never knew about.”

Earlier this week, Rafael Cotto and his family lost their  home in the Bronx after a powerful fire spread from a nearby house.

While Rafael was in his bedroom on a late afternoon, he heard people yelling, “Get out, get out, there’s a fire!”

He looked out the window. “There were flames right in my face,” Rafael said. “I pulled the curtain back, ran to the hallway, and I yelled to the kids, ‘There’s a fire! Let’s get out of here!’”

After quickly returning to his room to retrieve a few items, Rafael walked out of the house with his daughter and son, 17 and 15. His daughter was draped in a towel; his son was in shorts and a tee shirt.

They stood on the street as firefighters started spraying the house. The source of the fire had been a house next to a grocery store. A second house succumbed as well, and Rafael’s next.

Rafael called his wife, Selene, at work, and she rushed home. The Red Cross was on the scene within 45 minutes, quickly wrapping people in warm blankets.

Selene said, “They also gave us warm drinks—tea and coffee. It was very nice. They did a very, very good job.”

The Red Cross provided the family with hotel accommodations as well.

Rafael and Selena admitted, “We didn’t know that the Red Cross responded to fires; it was our first time in this situation.”

When the couple visited Greater New York Red Cross headquarters, they were given a debit card with which to buy replacement clothes and food, along with an organized plan about what to do next after meeting with their caseworker.

“I feel better, I feel comfortable; I give my thanks to the Red Cross,” Selene said. “They are like the family you had, but never knew about.”