The Glendale-Crescenta Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross offers this opportunity to compare an array of carefully selected wines from California and around the world. In addition, imported cheeses, an array of Mignon fine chocolates, and light appetizers by Chin Chin Catering will be available.

This fundraising event will be held at the Forest Lawn Museum, with its panoramic evening view of the City of Glendale.

This year’s special guest emcee: Fritz Coleman, popular Channel 4 weatherman, talented standup comedian – and longtime supporter of the Red Cross.

Musical entertainment will also be featured, as well as an exhibit of the art of Ian Hornak: 32 paintings by one of the founding members of the Photorealist and Hyperrealist art movements.

Adding to the festivities: a raffle and silent auction of many gift items and entertainment events contributed by local businesses and community members.

All proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross, furthering its ability to help communities in Glendale and the Crescenta Valley in times of unexpected emergencies.

Tickets are $60 per person or $100 for two people. To purchase tickets, call 818-243-3121. Online ticketing is available at www.GlendaleArts.org ($2 per ticket surcharge applies for online purchases).

Questions may be directed to Chapter Executive Officer Ron Farina at 818-243-3121, ext. 115 or at Ronald.Farina@redcross.org

Irena Efremian and Mel Garcia, front row center, surrounded by friends and colleagues at their farewell party

With great regret, the Chapter had to make additional staffing cuts in response to the current economic climate, resulting in the loss of Irena Efremian and Mel Garcia.

Mel’s and Irena’s many friends, which included volunteers, Board of Directors members, and Red Cross staff staged an “ice cream social send-off” at Chapter Headquarters. Rather than dwell on the sadder aspects of their departure, everyone chose to celebrate their outstanding experiences in knowing and working with these two fine individuals.

Irena began her Red Cross career over 17 years ago as a volunteer, then moved into a paid staff position and eventually rose to Assistant Chapter Manager. In this capacity she oversaw the Chapter’s day-to-day operations, supervised and helped place volunteers, served as the resident computer expert, and did a stellar job organizing and raising financial support for the Chapter’s annual fundraisers, the Wine & Cheese Tasting and Fritz Coleman Comedy Night. Irena’s ready smile and gracious manner enhanced the lives of everyone with whom she came in contact.

Mel started with the Chapter as a custodian and through hard work and skill was eventually promoted to Facility Manager, responsible for keeping the headquarters building, its grounds, and its vehicles clean, safe, and in good working order. He also took on the task of purchasing supplies for the Chapter’s emergency kits – a significant fundraiser. Mel responded with good grace and humor whenever called on to help, no matter the hour.

All of us who had the privilege of interacting with Irena and Mel over the years will miss them terribly, and we know they’ll go on to even bigger adventures and master a whole new set of challenges in the future. Thanks for everything, Mel and Irena!

In addition, Chin Chin Catering provided a mouth-watering selection of appetizers, and Mignon Chocolates was on hand with a delightful array of fine dark and milk chocolates. (And yes, they go very nicely with wine!)

Guests were also able to view The Art of Artis Lane, an award-winning sculptor and painter, and they also enjoyed the musical talents of Olivia May, whose voice and guitar enhanced the evening.

While sampling the wines and the food, participants also browsed the stunning selection of silent auction items, which included art work, jewelry, and gift baskets overflowing with goodies. After bidding on the silent auction items, they deposited tickets to win raffle offerings such as gift certificates for food and entertainment opportunities, along with a much sought-after Amazon Kindle.

Fritz Coleman and Chapter Board Member Michelle Ramirez

A highlight of the evening was the appearance of Fritz Coleman, our favorite Channel 4 weatherman and a long-time supporter of the Red Cross. Fritz conducted a fundraiser/auction to benefit disaster victims everywhere, and thanks to the spontaneous generosity of our guests, quite a bit of money was collected for this purpose. Afterward, Fritz mingled with the guests to talk about the Red Cross and the important work done by the organization, and by the Glendale-CV Chapter.
At the evening’s conclusion, Chapter Board Chairman Gerry Tomsic, assisted by members of our Youth Group, announced the raffle winners, and the lucky ticket holders claimed their prizes.

The Chapter extends an ENORMOUS thank-you to Scott Drolet and Forest Lawn Glendale for providing the venue for this event, not to mention the flowers, the catering, the bottled water, and other supplies.

We are also very grateful to our wonderful Youth Group members, who cheerfully greeted arrivals, served appetizers, and provided help wherever needed to help make things run smoothly. Many thank-yous, too, to our Volunteers and Board Members who collected auction and raffle items, staffed the registration table and wine tasting stations, and helped out in many other ways to ensure all the moving parts of this event ran smoothly. You’re the best!

All proceeds from the wine tasting go directly to the Chapter’s Disaster Relief Fund, to ensure that we’ll be able to respond to future emergencies in the communities we serve. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets, and we hope you’ll come back for more next year.

Photos: Scott Stalnaker, Glendale Community College

Written by Bonnie Schroeder, Volunteer, Glendale-La Crescenta Chapter Board Member

About 40 Youth Group members showed up the following Saturday morning to wash cars in the parking lot at Chapter headquarters. While several exuberant young ladies waved signs along Brand Blvd. to advertise the car wash, other Youth Group representatives went to work with hoses, buckets and towels.

The group will use the remaining proceeds from the car wash to fund their many activities during the year, including a Beach Cleanup venture for which they need bus fare and food.

Asked why they were there at the car wash instead of at the movies or the mall, Youth Group President Madlene Asikian explained, “We want to make a difference in our community and feel close to it.  We want to help where we can.”

By the way – they did a really good job cleaning those cars!  They left shining like new.

Bottom Photo, L to R:  Youth Group Board Representative Marian Sarkisian, Vice President Vicktoria Terian, Volunteer Narin Hagopian, President Madlene Asikian

Photo: Jerry Jacobs, Glendale Fire Department

GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, Friday, August 27, 2010 – Early in the morning on August 26, Chapter Executive Officer Ron Farina, who also fills a Disaster Services role, was called out to the scene of an apartment fire on Everett Avenue in Glendale.

Farina reports that the upper apartment was gutted, but since the residents were about to leave for a trip they did not need emergency lodging. The ground-floor unit sustained extensive water damage and has ceiling support issues. When he arrived at 4:30 a.m., Farina met with Fire Department personnel and spoke with the family He then arranged lodging for the family at a nearly motel and the Chapter will assist them with a month’s rent, since their unit will take a few weeks to be repaired.

A second family was forced to evacuate because the utilities were turned off.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Captain Stuart Stefani of the Glendale Fire Department commented that “We always call on the Red Cross because of their dependability. Whenever we call, they always come through for us and bend over backward to help the people displaced by a residential fire.”

Written by Bonnie Schroeder

Red Cross Disaster Volunteer Anita Preizler

GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA, Thursday August 26, 2010

- On August 24, disaster volunteers Anita Preizler and Kathie Riedel were called out to the site of a house fire at Salem & Pacific in Glendale. Although not destroyed by the fire, the home did sustain extensive damage, leaving nine people, including several children, without a place to stay.

Preizler and Riedel arranged temporary lodging for the family at a nearby motel while they dealt with the aftermath of the fire. Fortunately, the family had closed their closet doors so that their clothing was not harmed by the fire.

Anita Preizler has first-hand experience with house fires, as her own house burned down many years ago. She says, “Most of the time when someone says, ‘I can imagine what you’re going through’ – you think, ‘Oh no you can’t.’ But I can.”

She has some simple tips for fire victims. For example, “Take a shower and wash your hair so you won’t have to smell smoke all night.”

Red Cross Volunteer Kathie Riedel at Glendale Civic Auditorium shelter

She advises clients to keep a list of things they might need to take. Most people, she observes, don’t think about small items like toothbrushes – but it’s the little things that make a difference in helping someone feel comfortable and safe.

Preizler, the Chapter’s Coordinator for Disaster Education and Individual Client Services, has been with the Red Cross for ten years. In addition to being a Disaster Services volunteer, she also teaches several Health & Safety classes.

Kathie Riedel splits her time between Glendale and a home in Arkansas. She helped staff the Glendale-CV Chapter’s evacuation shelter at Glendale Civic Auditorium during last winter’s rainstorms and floods and has participated in many other disaster responses.

Written by Bonnie Schroeder

Red Cross aid for the Pakistan flood is offloaded in the Swat valley.

Thursday, August 19, 2010 — The global Red Cross and Red Crescent network is quadrupling its emergency activities in Pakistan in response to the country’s worst flooding in more than 80 years. As a part of this effort, the American Red Cross is providing $1 million to help Pakistani families meet their most critical needs.

The impact of the flooding is staggering, and the UN estimates that the number of people affected is now more than 15 million.

Much of the affected area in the south is still underwater. Hundreds of villages and thousands of acres of standing crops are submerged, and the waters may not recede fully for more than a year. In the northwest of the country, the waters have receded in many places and the devastation most resembles an earthquake. Bridges have collapsed and nearly 1 million houses are damaged or destroyed.

Thousands of local Pakistan Red Crescent volunteers are now distributing relief to their communities, and have reached 350,000 people since the flooding started.

There is still great need. The global Red Cross and Red Crescent network is working with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society to reach more than 900,000 people. This assistance includes emergency relief, tents and shelter kits, medical care, clean water and improved sanitation, as well as help to restore livelihoods in the coming months.

Meanwhile, medical teams have treated 44,000 people since the flooding first began. Waterborne diseases still pose a risk to millions of people, especially children, living in the flood-affected areas, and contaminated water and the lack of medication are causing some of the main flood-related illnesses, such as respiratory tract infections and diarrhea, to be potentially deadly.

Comparisons between Pakistan’s current flooding and previous major natural disasters make it clear that this is a catastrophe of unparalleled magnitude, and the floods are not yet likely to have reached their destructive peak. More rain is expected by the end of the week.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org

This number encompasses house fires, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes and other crises, and in order to meet the needs of everyone affected, the Red Cross spends about $450 million in an average year on disaster relief throughout the U.S.

So far this year, the Red Cross has responded to more than 30 significant disasters in the U.S. These have included floods in Tennessee, North Dakota, the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, tornadoes in the South and Midwest, and major fires in communities across the country.

There is no other non-governmental organization that can respond to disasters on the size and scale of the Red Cross—but we depend on people and businesses in this country to be ready.

By donating to the Red Cross, you can help those in need. Here are some examples of how disaster relief donations are spent:

• $10: Provides one “comfort kit” and blanket to a disaster client. The kit contains deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, facial tissues, wash cloth, shampoo, liquid soap, lotion, comb, razor and shaving cream.
• $25: Provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to a shelter resident. 
• $50: Provides food and shelter to a person for one day. This service includes preparation of breakfast, lunch and dinner, the costs to mobilize and distribute a cot, two blankets and a comfort kit as well as the costs of Red Cross workers to provide this service.
• $150: Provides supplies to support the needs of an infant in a shelter. This includes diapers, wipes, soy formula, a crib and changing pads. When possible, arrangements are made to house families with infants in a separate section of a shelter to ensure safety and privacy for families.
• $575: Covers the cost to deploy one emergency response vehicle (ERV) and two Red Cross workers to a disaster operation for one day. These vehicles travel throughout affected areas providing warm food and cold drinks, as well as needed supplies like clean-up and comfort kits. This daily cost includes the cost of fuel and maintenance.
• $1,500: Covers the cost to provide a family of four all of the Red Cross emergency services, including feeding, sheltering, bulk distribution and client casework. This includes five nights in a shelter with meals for four people, one bulk package, and casework for one family. The bulk package includes a cooler; flashlight; batteries; hand sanitizer; insect repellant; sunscreen; a clean-up kit with a sectional handle with mop, broom, squeegee and push broom heads, pail, scrub brush, sponge, disinfectant, detergent/degreaser, bleach, trash bags, gloves and dust mask; and a comfort kit for each family member.

Donate now!

You can help people affected by disasters like floods, fires, tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, by making a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit http://www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Contributions may also be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Melissa, a Registered Nurse, holds a Master’s Degree in Nursing from UCLA and is also a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. She works for the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, conducting health exams and screenings on refugees who come to Los Angeles County from all over the world.

Refugees are legal, documented immigrants, with the same eligibility for health care as U.S. citizens. Melissa helps lead them through the often-bewildering process of obtaining necessary health care once they enter this country. Refugees coming into the U.S. have been screened and treated for contagious diseases before entering our country, but a multitude of other health issues – including heart attack and stroke – can arise at any time. As a Nurse Practitioner, Melissa secures emergency or urgent care as needed, and administers follow up tests to ensure her clients stay healthy.

Melissa is passionate about her work and considers it her privilege to work with this vulnerable population. She credits her mother with instilling this philosophy at an early age. Her mom’s strong Christian beliefs are the foundation of Melissa’s desire to help others.

Melissa and her sister were born in Korea, where their mom worked as a public health nurse. The family emigrated in the 1970’s, when a nursing shortage in the U.S. offered career opportunities for her mom. Melissa’s parents are retired now, but they live nearby, as does her sister, so the family stays close.

Melissa says her parents’ role was crucial in shaping her attitude. “You tend to treat people the way your parents treated you,” she notes.

Melissa’s experience makes her even more effective in working with refugees. She wants to empower her clients and help them see they can survive in America, where they can grow and educate themselves, free of the persecution they may have experienced before coming here. She wants to make them feel safe in their new country.

After grad school, Melissa volunteered at the Union Rescue Mission, pursuing her goal of helping underserved communities, and she hoped to get a staff position, but they weren’t hiring at the time. Instead, she went to work for L.A. County as a Nurse Practitioner and has been there since 2002.

Her desire to help others led her to the Red Cross. When she met Susan Carr and learned of Susan’s involvement with the Glendale-Crescenta Valley Chapter, it seemed a logical step to volunteer there. Melissa lives in Glendale, so she saw the opportunity help her community prepare for disaster.

Melissa has begun taking the Chapter’s Disaster Training courses and looks forward to qualifying as a Disaster Services volunteer. If a disaster occurs, locally or nationally, she’s required to place the needs of L.A. County first, but she says she’d take vacation time if necessary to be deployed for a national emergency such as a hurricane.

Her experience with the Red Cross thus far has been very positive, and she’s inspired by the dedication of the Chapter staff, its volunteers, and the Youth Group. She appreciates the way the Chapter reaches out to the community and the way everyone works together and builds on an existing foundation so “you don’t have to reinvent the wheel” to get things done.

Melissa notes a parallel with Public Health Nursing, which acts as a bridge among organizations within L.A. County to get people involved, save money, and avoid duplication of services. “We’re all in this together,” she says, adding that we all need to explore our resources and take care of them. She believes that the current economic and environmental climate has led people to be less self involved and to care more about each other, and about conserving our resources. And that’s a good thing!

As to her ongoing involvement with the Red Cross, Melissa says she’s still formulating her plan but hopes to educate the community about disaster preparedness, because, “it’s not if – but when – a disaster will happen.” Melissa hopes to enable people to avoid panic by teaching them what to do in an emergency.

Melissa also comments that the bottom line for a good volunteer is a desire not simply to serve out of necessity or obligation, but to truly serve well, from the heart. This is how she approaches her career and her volunteering and says it’s her goal to make people feel respected and appreciated as individuals.

The Chapter welcomes Melissa to our volunteer “family” and looks forward to the benefit of her dedication and enthusiasm. Any organization is only as good as its people, and based on the caliber of volunteers our Chapter attracts, along with our superb and hard-working staff, we’re in the top percentile.

If you or someone you know would like to join the team, call 818-243-3121 or visit www.arcglendale.org to find out how your talent and experience can be put to work on behalf of your community.