Welcome to New Arrivals on our Disaster Team!

We are excited to welcome three new faces to our disaster team here in the Kentucky Region!

Welcome Racheal Greer, Nikki Salladay and Tiffany Gartley!

Racheal

Nikki

Tiffany

Racheal is joining us as the Disaster Program Specialist for Eastern Kentucky serving the region in the Eastern Kentucky Chapter. She will primarily be based out of the Pikeville office. Racheal has spent several years serving the community members of Kentucky through her role in Emergency Management. She worked many local disasters in Pike County serving in the EOC as well as being deployed to the Western part of the state to serve on the State IMT during severe flooding of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, earning membership into the Kentucky Colonel organization.

Nikki is joining us in the Senior Disaster program role serving the region and will be primarily based out of the Louisville office. Nikki joins the Kentucky American Red Cross team most recently from the Michigan Region where she has been serving as the Disaster Program Manager in the Grand Rapids area. She has a background in working with and for volunteers with the Red Cross and prior to joining the Red Cross. She is no stranger to Kentucky as she was born and raised on the south end of Louisville and has several family members throughout the state.

Tiffany is joining us as the Disaster Program Specialist for Western Kentucky and will be serving the region in the Western Kentucky Chapter based out of the Paducah office. Tiffany joins us with an extensive background working for non profit and government based organizations in the Paducah area. Over the years she has held vital roles within reputable organizations such as the Paducah Housing Authority, Boy Scouts of America, United Way of Paducah-McCracken County, Kentucky Career Center/Kentucky Works and Ttec. Caring for others and doing the right thing are passions for Tiffany. She is excited to have to opportunity to be a part of the Red Cross team and continue her career aligned to a mission that she believes in.

Welcome, everyone!

Financial Development Staff Announcement

The Kentucky Region Development team is pleased to welcome three new staff members!

Tonya Schweitzer joins us as the new Regional Philanthropy Officer for the Kentucky Region. Based in Louisvillle, Tonya will be focusing on focusing on fostering relationships with foundations throughout the Kentucky Region. Tonya spent more than 20 years at Metro United Way working in development. Most recently, Tonya was the Chief Development Officer at Boys and Girls Haven. Tonya has a long-history of fundraising experience and relationship management.

Vanessa Miller is joining Team Kentucky as the new Donor Development Officer. Vanessa lives in and will work out of the Louisville office. Vanessa has a long history of experience working with high net worth individuals in a sales and customer service capacity. Her skill set is in strong alignment with what’s needed to be successful in this role where she’ll be called upon to win back lapsed donors and bring on new donors to the Red Cross.

Finally, we welcome Garrett Messer as our new Development Specialist for the region. In this role, Garrett will serve as our lead in Salesforce, our customer relationship management database, help develop and execute a consistent donor stewardship plan, invoice processing, and many other activities related to donor data. Garrett worked at ZirMed for many years and the past three years at Norton Healthcare with responsibilities in IT.

Welcome to the team!

Red Cross Helps Louisville Family Prepare with Bedside Smoke Alarms

“Alright, we’re going to practice,” says Clair, a Disaster Program Manager for the Louisville Area Chapter Red Cross. She stands in the hallway of the Mansfield’s home, poised beneath one of the smoke alarms Red Cross volunteers had installed just a few weeks before.

In their rooms, Gabriella Mansfield, 8, and Estfeanie Mansfield, 10, giggle and nod. A sign language interpreter translates for Estfeanie and her mother, Sharonda Mansfield, who are both deaf, as they prepare to practice their fire escape plan for the first time.

Then, the smoke alarm sounds and triggers the bedside alarms to flash and vibrate in the sleeping spaces. Clair and the interpreter both sign in time to the sound of the smoke alarm as the girls and their mother quickly leave the house and race to get outside to their meeting spot.

Gabriella and Estfeanie creating a fire escape plan with Clair

Sharonda and three of her four children are deaf, and did not have working smoke alarms in their home. Working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire nearly in half. But those who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot depend on the sound of a regular smoke alarm to alert them to a fire. The Kentucky Red Cross is working to provide bedside smoke alarms for those who are deaf or hard of hearing: these smoke alarms have strobe lights and bed shakers to help alert residents in case of a fire. That’s why Sharonda reached out to the Red Cross through the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (KCDHH).

“The younger kids, I didn’t think they would know what to do if there was a fire.” Sharonda said.

With the help of a sign language interpreter from KCDHH, the Red Cross installed four alarms in the Mansfield home, including three bedside smoke alarms. Since her children were at school during the installation, the Red Cross made a special return visit a few weeks later to teach the children about fire and disaster safety, and helped the family come up with their fire escape plan. Together, Sharonda and her children talked about the possible escape routes they could take in case of a fire, and designated a tree in their front yard as their meeting place.

“Where would you go?” Sharonda asked the girls later, as they sat in their living room while Clair went over other fire and local disaster safety tips with the family. “Where do you run?”

“Outside!” Estfeanie replied, giggling with her sister.

José, another member of the Mansfield family, testing the bed-shaker portion of the bedside alarm

The Kentucky Red Cross is able to install these alarms part of our Home Fire Campaign in part because of a grant from the WHAS Crusade for Children that provides lifetone smoke alarms for children, as well as our partnership with KCDHH. KCDHH partnered with the Red Cross in 2018 and has also provided communication kits to use at shelters and during disasters. They also provide interpreter services, and help spread the word to the community about fire safety.

To learn more about our campaign to end home fires by installing smoke alarms and providing fire safety education across the country, click here.

Kentucky Red Cross and Kentucky Power Kick Off National Preparedness Month with AEP Foundation Grant

Each September, National Preparedness Month encourages Americans to be prepared for disasters in their homes, businesses and communities. Every 8 minutes, the Red Cross responds to a disaster, and the vast majority of these are home fires. One of the best ways to prepare for a home fire is to have working smoke alarms, which can reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly 50 percent. On Wednesday, Kentucky Power awarded a $40,000 American Electric Power Foundation grant to the Kentucky Red Cross to support Home Fire Preparedness efforts and provide free smoke alarms in Eastern Kentucky.

“We’re making this important grant award today in recognition of National Prepa
redness Month,” said Kentucky Power President Brett Mattison. “The Red Cross responds to more than 300 home fires in Eastern Kentucky every year. This grant will allow them to help families prepare should disaster strike.”

The AEP Foundation grant will allow the Red Cross, volunteer fire departments, Kentucky Power volunteers and others to canvass low income areas and provide smoke alarms to those in need. Smoke alarm installations funded with the grant are planned for October in Greenup County and in Letcher County in spring 2020.

“With this generous donation from the American Electric Power Foundation homes will be made safer and lives will be saved,” said Debbie Ranier, executive director of the Eastern Kentucky Chapter of the American Red Cross. “Partners like Kentucky Power mean so much to this organization. We appreciate their time and generosity put into helping the American Red Cross carry out its mission daily. They are truly a part of our Red Cross Family.”

This week, a Red Cross emergency response vehicle funded with a previous $150,000 AEP Foundation grant left Ashland with the husband-wife volunteer team of Mike and Charlene Qualls for its first national disaster response. The vehicle, Eastern Kentucky’s first, was dispatched to North Carolina in response to Hurricane Dorian.

Thank you, Kentucky Power, for your generosity and your commitment to making our community safer!

Learn more about our Home Fire Campaign here.