In Case You Missed It

Long Island Red Crossers marched in the 2021 Huntington Red, White and Blue Holiday Parade.

Over the last seven days, the Greater New York Red Cross provided emergency assistance to 200 adults and 43 children for 36 local disaster responses. Here are some highlights from last week and a preview of upcoming activities. (See below)

Last Week in Review

• Last Saturday, The Brooklyn Paper reported 25 residents being displaced after a 2-alarm fire on 8th Ave, Brooklyn. The Red Cross provided financial aid and emergency housing to 3 families.
• Over the weekend, new Long Island Red Cross CEO Jose Dominguez, Vito Reciniello and other Long Island Red Crossers enjoyed marching and celebrating at the 2021 Huntington Red, White & Blue Holiday Parade.
• On Thanksgiving Day, the Red Cross responded to several large fires including:
• A 5-alarm fire on Post Ave in Inwood where we assisted 99 adults and 24 children. 22 families were given emergency housing. NBCNY, ABC7NY, PIX11, and Patch reported on the fire. 
• CBS NY reported on 2-alarm fire on E 98th Street in Brooklyn where we provided financial aid and emergency housing to 3 families. 
• NY Daily News reported on a 4-alarm fire on Devoe St. in Williamsburg where the Red Cross assisted 4 families with financial aid and emergency housing. ABC7, Daily Mail and 1010Wins all reported on the fire. 
• In letters to the editor, new Long Island Red Cross CEO Jose Dominguez and Metro NY North Red Cross CEO Stephanie Dunn Ashley expressed gratitude and appreciation for volunteers who make helping others a priority in their lives. 
• Check out our year-end highlights showing how the Red Cross in the Greater New York Region volunteers, staff, and donors made a difference for thousands of people.

Upcoming Events and Activities

• Dec 15: Join us for a Volunteer Info Session to learn about our many volunteer opportunities and how you can apply. 
• Dec 16: Join us for a special preparedness presentation: Prepare, Respond, Recover: What to do When Disaster Strikes co-hosted by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
• Are you ready to turn your compassion into action? As a Disaster Casework volunteer, you will connect directly with people affected by disasters big and small to help take the next steps in their recovery journey. Sign up here.

In Case You Missed It

Sadly, the Red Cross responded to several fatal fires last week
including on Riverhead, Long Island. (Photo: Celia Vollmer)

Over the last seven days, the Greater New York Red Cross provided emergency assistance to 84 adults and 21 children following 40 local disasters. Here are some highlights from last week and a preview of upcoming activities. (See below)

Last Week in Review

• Last Sunday, the Metro NY North Red Cross team provided emergency housing and financial assistance to 10 families following a fire on S. Kensico Ave in White Plains. A reception center was also opened to provide hot beverages, food and comfort to displaced residents.
• Last Friday, the Red Cross responded to a tragic 2-alarm fire on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem where 13 residents were assisted with emergency housing and financial assistance. Congressman Adriano Espaillat showed his support for those who were affected by the fire, and thanked the Red Cross.
• Last Tuesday, the Long Island Red Cross responded to a fatal fire in Riverhead. We provided financial assistance, blankets, and comfort kits to 2 families.
• As Thanksgiving approaches, read these 10 holiday travel safety tips before you hit the road.
• We thanked Shreve Crump & Low and their customers for raising $11,000, during their special promotion, to support our critical mission.
• Check out highlights from the past year of Greater New York Region showing how our volunteers, staff, and donors making a difference for thousands of people near and far.

Upcoming Events and Activities

• Dec 15: Join us for a Volunteer Info Session to learn about our many volunteer opportunities and how you can apply.
• Dec 16: Join us for a special preparedness presentation: Prepare, Respond, Recover: What to do When Disaster Strikes co-hosted by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
• Are you ready to turn your compassion into action? As a Disaster Casework volunteer, you will connect directly with people affected by disasters big and small to help take the next steps in their recovery journey. Sign up here.

In Case You Missed It

Governor Hochul congratulates Red Cross Volunteer Dottie Brier at the
Third Annual Women's Veterans Day Tribute Ceremony. (Photo: Joe Chang)

Over the last seven days, the Greater New York Red Cross provided emergency assistance to 141 adults and 72 children following 35 local disasters. Here are some highlights from last week and a preview of upcoming activities. (See below)

Last Week in Review

• Long Island Red Cross volunteers and employees installed more than 200 free smoke alarms over the weekend in homes from Glen Cove to the Hamptons. 

• News 12 reported on a fire in Yonkers that destroyed two buildings, leaving approximately 40 people homeless. The Metro NY North Red Cross was immediately on scene and later opened a reception center for displaced families. 11 families were provided emergency assistance. 

• Thank you to US Congressman Adriano Espaillat for helping #endhomefires by installing fire alarms in his district last Friday. NY1 covered the event. 

• On Thursday, our volunteers commemorated #VeteransDay by marching in the NYC Veterans Day Parade! 

• We also honored our veterans for their tremendous service and sacrifice to our country and shared profiles of Red Cross team members who are retired military veterans. 

• Last Tuesday, the American Red Cross participated in the Third Annual Women's Veterans Day Tribute Ceremony. The event paid homage to outstanding women who have served our country and our local communities, including our very own Dottie Brier. CBS2 covered the event. 

Upcoming Events and Activities

• Nov 15: Join us for a Volunteer Info Session to learn about our many volunteer opportunities and how you can apply today. 

• The American Red Cross has issued a call for blood. We are experiencing a critical need for blood donors to help us save lives. Find a blood drive near you today.

Veterans Who Serve With the Red Cross: Jerry Rothstein

For Jerry Rothstein, service in the military and service as a Red Cross volunteer have each provided an eye-opening opportunity to get to know people from all walks of life.

In 1962, Jerry, who grew up in Brooklyn, trained as a medic at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. There, he met people from across the United States.

“As a kid that had grown up in the city and never had much to do with the rest of the United States, getting sent to Texas opened my eyes to a lot of people and a lot of things I wasn’t aware of before,” Jerry says.

After his stint in Texas, Jerry went to graduate school and spent the next five years as a reservist, serving two weeks each summer in the Civil Affairs unit, which would have been charged with running the national government of Cuba in the event that the United States went to war with Havana.

Over the past 13 years as a volunteer with the Red Cross, Jerry has continued to enjoy eye-opening adventures. On his first day on the job, he responded to a downed commercial airplane in the freezing waters off Manhattan, an incident known as the “miracle on the Hudson.”

As a Disaster Action Team supervisor, Jerry typically responds to fires, delivering services to people when they are most in need, a job that takes him to neighborhoods across New York City.

“One of my favorite things about being a volunteer is going to the different neighborhoods in the city, meeting different people and seeing how much there is to learn,” Jerry says.

In Case You Missed It

Red Cross Responders assisting residents after 4-Alarm fire in Brooklyn. (Photo: Jon Knox)

Over the last seven days, the Greater New York Red Cross provided emergency assistance assisting 296 adults and 86 children for 44 local disasters. Here are some highlights from last week and a preview of upcoming activities. (See below)

Last Week in Review

• Congrats to our Team Red Cross Runners Erin Phillips, Bruno Costa and Ray Wark for completing the TCS New York City Marathon last Sunday. Thank you for supporting the lifesaving mission of the American Red Cross!
• This weekend, we reminded everyone to TURN their clocks back and TEST their smoke alarms!
• Last Thursday, a 4-alarm fire took place in Brooklyn NY on Lenox Rd. The Red Cross assisted 41 families (31 of those families received emergency housing). Dinner was also provided.
• In our most recent “Three Questions” blog post published last week, volunteer Sergey Pigach talks about what motivated him to lend his time to the Red Cross, his experience providing relief after Hurricane Ida, and the people in need that inspire him to continue his work.
• Thanks to all the students of the Bethpage High School Red Cross Club on Long Island who were out and about at their local annual Halloween event promoting Halloween Safety, and sharing emergency Preparedness & Fire Safety information.

Upcoming Events and Activities

• Nov 9: Watch the livestream of the Third Annual Women's Veterans Day Tribute Ceremony at the newly rediscovered Overseas Service League Flagstaff and Grove. The occasion will pay special homage to a few women, including women veterans and volunteers, who have served our country and our local communities.
• Nov 9: Join us for a virtual preparedness presentation, Prepare, Respond, Recover: What to do When Disaster Strikes, co-hosted by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.
• Nov 12: Join the American Red Cross for a new International Humanitarian Law & pop culture event! From the birth of Iron Man to Captain America to the Tesseract, the American Red Cross IHL Team will transport you into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to explore some of the biggest IHL issues in Phase One of the Infinity Saga!
• Are you ready to turn your compassion into action? As a Disaster Casework volunteer, you will connect directly with people affected by disasters big and small to help take the next steps in their recovery journey. Sign up here.

 “Three Questions” With Sergey Pigach 

By Kenna Beban, American Red Cross in Greater NY 

"Three Questions” is an American Red Cross in Greater New York blog series featuring staff, volunteers, and partners who help carry out our humanitarian mission. Through these short interviews, we hope to shine a light on our different programs and get to know those who make this work possible.                   

Photo Credit: Kevin Suttlehan
  

Sergey Pigach joined the American Red Cross in Greater NY in the spring of 2020, shortly after the onset of the pandemic. He started out by providing food and household supplies to hospital workers and later began responding to disasters in New York and across the country. Last month, Sergey supported our response to Ida flooding across the city by canvassing affected communities, sharing information, talking to residents, and distributing clean-up supplies. 

Why did you feel compelled to volunteer during the pandemic?  

Obviously, it was an unprecedented situation for all of us. I think, especially in the early days of COVID when no one really knew what it was or how bad it was, there was this sense of helplessness. No one really understood how to deal with the situation. Maybe in some sort of a selfish way, it was also just a way for me to have some sort of illusion of control over the situation in my little portion of the universe. But in the larger sense, I just wanted to help out.  

How did working in the field, and seeing firsthand the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in NYC affect you?  

It served as a reminder of how concealed all of those individual stories are from the public eye. After New York got hit, where I live, nothing really changed. It rained for a night, but I was fine, everybody around me was fine, I didn’t really see any damage. Once we were deployed to those specific neighborhoods that got affected, it was a stark and crazy contrast. You’re driving down the street and everything looks fine, and then you take a turn, and there’s a sunken alley, or an area with very unfortunate topography, where it just looks like a tornado came through. Just walking around there, it felt like a war zone. There were piles of rubble, and people already starting to rebuild and tear down their walls. It’s very sudden and completely unexpected to see. 

We came to one of the neighborhoods in Staten Island where everyone was tearing down partition walls in their houses on the first floor because everything was just reeking of mold. We would come up to the door to hand somebody the cleanup kits and talk to them, and every time they opened the door you could smell the rot and bleach emanating from inside. For a lot of people, this will definitely put them in a very precarious financial position, and for a lot of people, sadly, that will probably mean no longer having a home. 

How did they respond to the Red Cross’ help?  

I think there was a very genuine sense of gratitude. It was very touching when one of the residents who opened the door, she was an older woman with a very strong Balkan accent, and I could tell that she was probably living in the U.S. only for a few years. When I introduced myself, I said, “Hi, we’re with the Red Cross, we just wanted to give you this clean-up kit if you were affected.” She smiled and said, “oh my god, I love this country!” Because she felt like she was cared for. That was a very touching moment.  

Photo Credit: Kevin Suttlehan

In Case You Missed It

Greenwich partners showing their support for the Home Fire Safety Campaign.

Over the last seven days, the Greater New York Red Cross provided emergency assistance to 73 adults and 17 children following 39 local disasters. Here are some highlights from last week and a preview of upcoming activities. (See below)

Last Week in Review

• Partnering with the NYC Administration of Children’s Services, last week we shared Halloween safety tips. We also re-posted this spooky story about a little ghost who haunts our chapter HQ at night.
• Last Friday, local Greenwich partners (including the Fire Department, local PD, EMS, the First Selectman and other elected officials) joined us to help spread the word about our Home Fire Safety Campaign.
• NY State Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and NY State Senator James Sanders Jr. also showed their support for the Home Fire Safety Campaign via Twitter.
• Our very own Chris Higgins was featured on a National blog post about disability integration.
• In our most recent “Three Questions” blog post published last week, volunteer Mary Cueva talks about giving back to the Red Cross after receiving their help as a child in Honduras, the importance of bilingual volunteers, and her experience working in field after Hurricane Ida.
• Last week, The Talk had a segment discussing the amazing work of the American Red Cross. They also encouraged viewers to donate blood, time or money at redcross.org/CBS.

Upcoming Events and Activities

• Nov 3: Join us for a Volunteer Information Session to learn about our many volunteer opportunities and how you can apply today.
• Nov 12: Join the American Red Cross for a new International Humanitarian Law & pop culture event! From the birth of Iron Man to Captain America to the Tesseract, the American Red Cross IHL Team will transport you into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to explore some of the biggest IHL issues in Phase One of the Infinity Saga!
• Are you ready to turn your compassion into action? As a Disaster Casework volunteer, you will connect directly with people affected by disasters big and small to help take the next steps in their recovery journey. Sign up here.