Stacey Biggs' Chocolate Chip Pie and Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

 Millions of people will gather during the holidays to enjoy time with loved ones and a delicious holiday dinner. We reached out to our volunteers to get some of their favorite recipes to share with you. With cooking being the number one cause of home fires, check out these Red Cross fire safety steps: https://rdcrss.org/41hXvgS

Thank you to Stacey Biggs for two delicious and mouth-watering desserts, a chocolate chip pie and chewy peppermint crinkle cookies!

Chocolate Chip Pie

½ c. all-purpose flour

1 c. sugar

½ c. softened butter

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. milk chocolate chips

½ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. chopped pecans

1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour the mixture into an unbaked pie shell and bake for 30 minutes. Cover the edges with foil to prevent burning and bake for an additional 15-18 minutes until the top of the pie is set and golden brown.

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Chewy Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

10 candy canes, unwrapped

 2 cups granulated sugar

 1 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

 2 large eggs, room temperature

 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven 350°F. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.

Double bag 2 (resealable) 1-gallon plastic bags. Place candy canes inside and seal. Crush candy canes with a rolling pin until pieces are smaller than a pea. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or an electric mixer combine sugar and butter, cream until light and fluffy, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add in vanilla extract and eggs. Mix until combined. Scrape sides down as needed. Add salt, powder, soda and flour. Mix until combined. Scrape sides of bowl as necessary. Add crushed candy canes (powder and all).

Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Scoop 1 tablespoon portions of dough and roll into a ball. Roll in powdered sugar until coated. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. I made 12 per sheet, but you could easily fit 18.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Dave Sanderson Speaks to Red Cross Donors at Le Relais

A volunteer from the American Red Cross was one of the first  people to greet
Sanderson when he made shore in New Jersey after the crash on the Hudson.

Dave Sanderson is someone who was an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation. He was a top sales producer in every company he worked for and on January 15th 2009 was on a business trip he had made hundreds of times before. Like all of us when we travel, especially on business, things are often routine and we take things for granted. Then out of the blue something happens that changes what was once routine to a day that changes your life.

When US Airways Flight 1549, or “The Miracle on the Hudson”, ditched into the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, Dave Sanderson not only survived the “crash” but also started to realize the moments which made up his life, prepared him for what was about to happen.

Sanderson spoke about his experience with the first responders
and Red Cross volunteers who assisted him following
the crash on the Hudson.

After the incident, the lessons and strategies he learned throughout his life were instrumental that day and the days following. He started to realize one can grow from traumatic life experiences and set out on a path to not only share the lessons from that day, but practical and implementable strategies anyone can use, to not only survive their “personal plane crash” moment, but grow and thrive.

Dave shared his story with Red Cross Kentucky Region board members and donors at Le Relais in Louisville, KY. In his stirring presentation, Sanderson revealed the inner strength it took to make it through the day, and how you can grow from challenges throughout your personal and business life and how resiliency, leadership, and state management can help you not only overcome any obstacle, but grow and thrive! How all the moments in your life MATTER!

View more photos from the event on our Flickr.

To learn more about the American Red Cross, or to become a volunteer, please visit redcross.org/volunteer.

A Pillowcase Promise

Written by: Cuthbert Langley, South Carolina Region

Pictures by: Kristen Perdue, Virginia Region

“It just happened.”

Ten-year-old Tanner said it happened in seconds. He was watching television with his mom in their Hopkinsville, Kentucky apartment around 9:30 p.m. on February 24. In almost an instant, they had to make a run for their lives.

“The lights just turned off, and then my mom said the wind was really blowing,” said Tanner. “She just started pulling my arm and we went out.”

They ran out of their apartment into the hallway after a tornado ripped through the complex. The family watched from underneath the apartment’s stairwell as part of the ceiling caved in. Tanner stood next to his younger neighbors and quickly realized he needed to help them.

Larissa, Tanner's mother, speaks with Mary Summers,
Regional Preparedness Manager for the Kentucky Region

“They were really scared and really nervous, and he put his arm around [their] shoulders, and he was like, ‘everything’s going to be fine. We’re safe here under the stairs.’ He was amazing, just amazing,” his mom, Larissa, said.

Turns out, just a couple of weeks before the tornado hit, Tanner participated in the Red Cross Pillowcase Project at his school, South Christian Elementary taught by Kathy Hayes, a Red Cross volunteer.  Thanks to a grant from Disney, the Red Cross, and volunteers, like Kathy, are able to teach 3^rd-5^th graders preparedness tips for local emergencies. Tanner learned during Kathy’s presentation about tornado safety, including picking a safety spot—the apartment’s stairwell—where he could meet his family outside of his home.

The program also teaches coping skills to help kids through those emergencies. Tanner used some of those same skills to help his younger neighbors.

“[Mrs. Hayes] said breathe in, breathe out.”

Volunteer Kathy Hayes presents Tanner with a new
pillowcase and emergency supplies.

In addition to learning about skills, Kathy gave the children a pillowcase they could decorate and use as place to store their own emergency kits. However, she taught Tanner and his classmates to leave the pillowcase behind in “act fast” emergencies, like tornadoes, when there is no time to spare.

That’s a message Tanner remembered that night.

“I wanted my pillowcase, but I didn’t [grab it],” Tanner said.

Hayes also promised the children that, if they lose their pillowcase due to a disaster, she would replace it. She followed through on her promise and met Tanner to replace his pillowcase.

In the backroom of the Red Cross chapter, Tanner quickly sat down and began decorating his pillowcase. He excitedly looked through all of the emergency supplies Kathy made sure he received.

“It did make a huge impression on him,” his mother said with a smile.

Tanner and his mom are now living with family while they search for a new place to live. The family will continue to work with Red Cross caseworkers to create their recovery plans.  

2017 Eclipse Safety

Millions of people are expected to make travel plans to see the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse visible in this country in 99 years. If you are planning to view the eclipse, please remember to do so safely! 

Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (“totality”), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality. The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses”  or hand-held solar viewers. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun.

NASA recommends the following for safe viewing of a solar eclipse:

o    Always inspect your solar filter before use; if scratched or damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.

o    Always supervise children using solar filters.

o    Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter — do not remove it while looking at the sun.

o    Do not look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device.

o    Similarly, do not look at the sun through a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or hand-held solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and enter your eye(s), causing serious injury.

o    Seek expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter with a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device. Note that solar filters must be attached to the front of any telescope, binoculars, camera lens, or other optics.

o    If you are within the path of totality, remove your solar filter only when the moon completely covers the sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets quite dark. Experience totality, then, as soon as the bright sun begins to reappear, replace your solar viewer to look at the remaining partial phases.

o    Outside the path of totality, you must always use a safe solar filter to view the sun directly.

o    If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them, or hold your handheld viewer in front of them.

For more information about the 2017 Eclipse, visit eclipse2017.nasa.gov/ 

If you're traveling to view the eclipse, you can check out some highway safety tips from the Red Cross here.