4/30/2008 9:22:00 AM Volunteers help local Red Cross Chapter earn honor
CAROLLO
Courtesy PhotoThe Northeast Nebraska Red Cross Disaster Response Team responds to a fire in January in Norfolk. The chapter has been recognized nationally for high performance.
Red Cross helps
Some areas in which the Red Cross responds:
* Disasters, such as fires, floods or tornadoes.
* Disaster education programs.
* First aid, CPR and other training as well as swimming and lifeguarding lessons.
* International services, such as helping local families find relatives with whom they have lost contact because of a natural disaster, war or internal conflict.
* Delivering messages to soldiers when emergencies occur back home.
* Blood services. With the help of blood donors, the Red Cross collects and distributes nearly half the nation's blood supply.
* Provides blood pressure screenings.
* Mental health counseling.
* Referrals and coordination with other local service agencies.
Ask just about anyone living in Northeast Nebraska what they enjoy about living here and the willingness of people to help each other would rate high.
So it might not come as much of a surprise that an organization that helps others - the American Red Cross - would be especially successful in carrying out its mission here.
There are 41 performance standards in which Red Cross chapters are measured. They cover such things as response times, how many people receive CPR training and financial contributions.
The Northeast Nebraska chapter of the Red Cross was the first chapter in Nebraska to meet all 41 performance standards, doing it three years ago and earning a high performance award.
Since then, chapters from Grand Island and Omaha have joined the Northeast Nebraska chapter in meeting all the standards, which are evaluated annually.
The honors continue. The Northeast Nebraska chapter has been rated sixth in performance among all the chapters in the nine-state Red Cross region of the Upper Midwest that includes Nebraska.
The Northeast Nebraska chapter covers Cedar, Cuming, Dixon, Knox, Madison, Pierce, Stanton, Thurston and Wayne counties and is one of the least populated.
The local chapter has just two paid employees: Lori Carollo, executive director, and Jill Hansen-Kaps, community services director.
The success of the chapter hasn't gone unnoticed.
During the Red Cross' recent annual convention in Baltimore, officials from other chapters wanted to learn more about the Northeast Nebraska chapter.
"You're not only small, but you're the smallest chapter here. And you've been here two years in a row," Carollo said she was asked by officials from much-larger chapters, such as in Chicago. "How do you make it work?"
What did Carollo tell them?
"What I shared with them is that in Northeast Nebraska, neighbor helps neighbor," Carollo said. "If there's a fire, the whole block is out (helping). It's neighbor helping neighbor, providing food and organizing a benefit."
The local chapter maintains offices in Wayne and Norfolk, responding to emergencies, conducting blood drives, training others and offering military inquiries, among other services.
Carollo said the donated hours of trained staff and sponsors are the key to make it successful.
Last year alone, there were 132 volunteers in the chapter who helped out, but there are others as well.
As an example, Carollo said she does not have to use Red Cross funds to purchase "comfort kits."
The kits, which are given to people who have been displaced, include such things as shampoo, deodorant, bar soap, wash cloth, shaving cream, razor, toothbrush and toothpaste and other items for people who have lost everything.
There are numerous volunteer groups - such as churches or 4-H Clubs - that purchase these items in bulk, then divide the items and assemble the kits, she said.
"We do very well up here," she said.
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