Davao City Red Cross Youth Council DOES IT AGAIN!

Davao City - Most Outstanding Chapter Youth Council
by MICHAEL M. ESGUERRA,
Neighbors Helping Neighors International Youth Representative

For the third time, the Chapter Youth Council of the Davao City Chapter has retained the title as it has been chosen by the Red Cross Youth-Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) as the country's Most Outstanding Chapter Youth Council of 2008.

The search was conducted with the objective of providing national recognition among young people who have made a difference in providing service to and advocating for the vulnerable people in the community. The youth council that had made a great impact in the society was given due recognition so that what it had done can be adopted in the national level.

Mr. Paul Gwyn Pagaran, Director of the Administrative Office of the PNRC, head the judges, which was also composed of Ms. Catherine Martin, Manager of the Disaster Management Services; Ms. Zenaida Bentejan, Manager of Social Services; Ms. Audrey Zubiri, wife of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri; and Ms. Maan, Operations Manager of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The judges evaluated the six finalists. Among the general criteria were impact of the different projects to the community, participation of the youth, innovativeness and technology used, promotion of the Red Cross principles and services and promotion of the Red Cross Youth objectives.

Among the finalists, Davao City Youth Council emerged as the winner. Other finalists were from Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Manila, Rizal, and Isabela.

The Red Cross Youth Council in Davao City sent its three significant activities that made an impact in the community. The first one was the Pledge 25 College and University Blood Collecting Units which aimed to institutionalize the Pledge 25 Project in Davao City's tertiary educational institution. Its vision was to maintain sufficient blood supply in the city.

Pledge 25 is a young blood donor group of the Red Cross Youth that aims to encourage young people to regularly donate their blood starting the age 18 until they reach the age 25.

Another one was Project One for Tree ng RCY, an established partnership with People Collaborating for Environmental Economic Management in Davao (PCEEM Davao) Foundation Inc. and NCCC Cares Foundation Inc. They project adopted 20 hectares of land in Upper Tamayong, Marilog District, which is part of the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed, a highly threatened watershed in the city.

Its aim was to extend the tree planting activities of the Red Cross Youth in the barangay level and to establish preventive/mitigating measures against future severe flooding at the low lying and and landslide/soil erosion-prone areas in the hinterlands through tree planting. Aside from tree plants, the barangay community was also educated on the importance of trees and reforestation by the participating RCYs.

The third one was the technical team that composed of four independent units equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills on technical service promotions and output delivery. The four groups were divided into the Editorial Board (VITAL LINK) – official publication/newsletter, Fund Generation and Promotions which was the creation of various income generating projects, Production Unit – produce Audio-Visual Presentations and MIS which the systematic databank of RCY members.

Red Cross Youth is the youth program of the Philippine National Red Cross. Its mission is to educate children and youth in the spirit of Red Cross and provide opportunities for directing and harnessing their energy and idealism into worthwhile activities within the framework of the organization. Objectives of the RCY were Advocacy and Inculcation of Moral Values and character Building, Protection of Life and Promotion of Community Health, Service and Solidarity National / International Friendship, Understanding and Education for Peace and Dissemination of Red Cross Principles and International Humanitarian Law.

For two consecutive years – 2006 and 2007 – the Davao City bagged the coveted title making them now part in the Hall of Fame awardees on outstanding youth mobilization. ###

Not Local to the National Capital Region? Make A Difference

For those that are not local to the National Capital Region, there are many other community events as part of "Make A Difference Day 2008".

Did you know that, "Make A Difference Day is the largest national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. USA WEEKEND and Newman's Own salute Make A Difference Day volunteers by awarding $100,000 for charity."

The USA Weekend website lists many projects you can get involved with on Make A Difference Day.

Innovation Jam

It is not too late to join around the world for Innovation Jam 2008.

"More than 1,100 CEOs shared their visions of the Enterprise of the Future, as well as their aspirations and ambitions to build it. For many, however, the way forward is still uncertain. Right now, leaders around the world are asking: How can my organization turn our vision into the reality we seek?"

Now is your chance to help influence some of the world's greatest challenges.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors is pleased to contribute on topics related to Disaster Preparedness, Social Networking, and other topics.

Why not start JAMming today at https://www.collaborationjam.com/innovationjam2008/

Landline, Cellphone, Email

A classroom parent mentioned they wanted to receive any important notices by email and not using the phone tree.

A phone tree? That is so 70’s.

However, it is important to remember that some people are still “stuck in the 70’s” using old technology. Not everyone advances at the same pace. Not everyone has a cell phone.

If this organization were to go to a unified alerting system, which is the current trend with technology, there is one small problem. This organization has problems with email and their internet provider almost on a weekly basis.

A further dependence on technology might not be the best immediate solution for them.

This brings up several major issues for the school, how do they handle emergency alerting? What happens if something happens to the building and all the records are inside? Can the parents be contacted?

But the real question, which came up as a result of all this, what is their emergency plan for the school? If such a plan were in place, then how to handle student emergency records would not be an issue. It would also be clearly documented the process for taking care of the students and where they might be relocated.

With all these questions that still remain, where do we start?

Understanding the processes that are in place, making sure that everyone knows them, looking at the legal requirements for an emergency plan at a school, and working with professionals to meet those requirements. Then, later in the process, leverage the technology to support those operational business requirements.

We will leave testing the process or conducting exercises for a discussion for another day.

Once you have all of this figured out, what about the company you work for?

Ric Skinner joins the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Leadership Team

The Neighbors Helping Neighbors started almost one year ago as part of National Preparedness Month 2007. Since then, we have grown from a local resource to sharing best practices to every state and over 65 countries internationally.


As part of National Preparedness Month 2008, we are pleased to add Ric Skinner as a member of Neighbors Helping Neighbors Leadership Team. Ric will be sharing best practices from teams across the United States, serving as a National Representative.


Ric Skinner is a volunteer GIS Advisor to the Tri-EPIC Regional Emergency Planning Committee for four towns and hospital in south central MA. He is a member of the Sturbridge (MA) CERT and is actively trying to organize the CERTs in the four towns into the Tri-EPIC Regional CERT.

He is a Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) with 35+ years experience gained in hospital/ healthcare, healthcare preparedness, emergency management/ disaster preparedness, state cancer registry, environmental assessment, fisheries biology, wetlands delineation & mitigation, biomonitoring of wastewater effluents, electric utility industry, environmental permitting, and probably a few others he has neglected to mention.

Ric has recently started The Stoneybrook Group to consult locally, regionally and nationally in the above mentioned areas and is very interested in consulting opportunities. He also enjoys outdoor photography, wooden ship modeling, small stream restoration, and has recently received a grant to research, GPS and map historic assets in Sturbridge.

Additional information about Ric can be found in the Sturbridge Times magazine. He can be reached at ric.skinner@gmail.com

Showcase Ontario 2008 - Working Together

Why limit National Preparedness Month to the United States?

Sharing this message with neighboring countries,

You are welcome to join us at Showcase Ontario 2008,

The theme "Working Together - Working Smarter"

is key to effective emergency management and disaster preparedness.

On Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 10:00-11:30am,

we present a feature workshop,

"Stop! We Have An Emergency!

Our Citizens Want To Help! -

Lessons Learned from a Global Citizen"

Advanced Registration is required for this conference.

Sponsored in partnership with IBM Canada.

National Preparedness Month - Coalition Partner

For the second year,

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

is a proud Coalition Member of National Preparedness Month 2008.

For additional information on National Preparedness Month, please visit

http://www.ready.gov/america/npm08/index.html

or

http://www.ready.gov/

_________________________________________

During the month of September,

in addition to multiple speaking engagements,

we will be comparing different

preparedness tips from around the world.