Stamp Journey

Holiday Mail for Heroes 2010

It’s that time of year again! The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have teamed up for the fourth annual Holiday Mail for Heroes program.

From now until December 10th you are invited to send holiday cards to our American service members, their families, and veterans all over the world. Anyone can send a card and you can send as many as you would like. Send all cards to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD
20791-5456

The deadline for this year is December 10th. Unfortunately, if your cards are not postmarked by December 10th they cannot be delivered. After Pitney Bowes collects and screens the mail received in the PO Box, Red Cross workers deliver holiday greetings to service men and women in their communities.

You could put smiles like these on the faces of those who have given so much. I'm thankful for their duty and for the loved ones who support their service...how about you?

 

Photo: Mark Weldon
American Red Cross

 

 

For more information, go to the American Red Cross website.

Hello Mackenzie Grace

Meet the new love of my life...

 

...with the "old" love of my life.

We brought Mackenzie home two days ago, and I swear she is already bigger!

Here's our new Mom feeding Mackenzie.

   

So, all is right in our little baby world. I'll be staying the rest of the month in D.C.

Heck, I may never leave. :-)

The good news is that they have phones and Internet in D.C., so I can reach customers. Those of you who had requested a catalog last week will receive your copy soon.

If you'd like a FREE catalog, send me an email with your full name, mailing address and telephone number. My lovely assistant -- you saw him in the first photo above -- will be getting those out this weekend.

Please don't hesitate to call or email if you have a question or would like to place an order. Gotta run; there's a baby calling me!

Video Shares: Nashville Flooding & Scrapbook Ideas

     

With the tremendous storms and flooding in the southeast, some of my best pals are in Alabama and Mississippi volunteering with the American Red Cross. It is truly a privilege to be able to serve those affected by disaster and I expect to be deployed to Tennessee myself in the next few days.

Please consider making an easy $10 donation to assist the relief efforts. Just text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. (See more donation information here.)

There have sadly been 28 deaths with the flooding in the southeast; thousands of people are in shelters and the flood waters have not yet receded. News broadcasts are showing spectacular photos of rescues, flooded highrise buildings and the impact on Nashville's music industry, including the Opryland Hotel and the Concert Hall.

Photographer Michael Deppisch has captured a rather different -- and moving -- perspective on the Nashville floods of 2010. 

I know your hearts are with mine as we keep all those affected by these storms in our thoughts.

    

The second video I'd like to show you today is in celebration of National Scrapbooking Month. Carrie Cudney from Stampin' Up!'s home office has the cutest projects to share with you.

Just click on the photo above to see the video. Let me know what you think of the ideas!

Red Cross Aid Reaches Haitian Earthquake Survivors

I've been working this week with the American Red Cross -- mostly working with the Metro Atlanta Chapter and our local Disaster Action Team. I am so moved by the sincere wish of so many people to help, and spent most of Friday helping to answer the phones. The number one question I heard: How can I help?

The very best way to help right now is to make a financial donation.

This is not going to be a quick fix, and we must vow to remain vigilant and reliable in our aid to the people of Haiti...today, tomorrow and a year from now. Many people want to collect donations of clothing and other tangible goods; unfortunately, the high cost and complicated logistics of getting goods to the people who need them make it impractical. Supplies were pre-staged in Panama and that is what Red Cross is using for Haiti.

Today's Update

Truckloads of Red Cross supplies arrived in Port-au-Prince today and thousands of responders are traveling the streets providing water and first aid as well as finding lost loved ones and transporting people with serious injuries to nearby health facilities.

“America’s support – donations made in the United States to the American Red Cross – is reaching the hands of survivors in Haiti,” said Steve McAndrew, disaster relief specialist with the American Red Cross in Port-au-Prince.

Within the convoy that arrived today are 50-bed field hospitals and purification equipment capable of producing 10,000 gallons of drinking water per day. The mobile hospitals have a dedicated section to help people cope with emotional trauma.

A Focus On Children

Toys and specially-trained volunteers will be available to comfort children, who are particularly vulnerable.

 An additional seven truckloads of equipment and materials including medical supplies, that were on Red Cross planes re-routed to Dominican Republic Friday, are traveling overland and are expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince by Sunday. Two flights will arrive in the capital city, carrying enough relief supplies for more than 32,000 families, on Monday.

The American Red Cross team and responders from more than 30 countries, totaling more than 100, have now arrived and are providing a wide-range of support, including food, water, field hospitals, emotional support and sanitation services.

“We are working with the Haitian Red Cross volunteers, who have intimate knowledge of the community,” said McAndrew. “Survivors are receiving aid from their neighbors, who they know and trust, with support from the international community.”

 Since the earthquake struck, more than 19,300 people have registered with the International Committee of the Red Cross-sponsored Web site (www.icrc.org/familylinks) helping to reconnect families separated during the earthquake. Almost all of the registrations were from people searching for news about their relatives, although around 1,400 people have so far used the site to say they are safe and well.

How You Can Help

Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-REDCROSS (English) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish) or online at www.redcross.org. This is the BEST way for you to help.

You can also text "Haiti" to 90999 to make a $10 donation billed to your phone.

• The American Red Cross is not accepting volunteers to travel to Haiti. If you would like to volunteer for the American Red Cross, please contact your local chapter.
• Persons in Haiti and abroad can search for and register the names of relatives missing since the earthquake at www.icrc.org/familylinks. The International Committee of the Red Cross is helping to reconnect separated families within the country.
• People trying to locate U.S. citizens living or traveling in Haiti should contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747 or (202) 647-5225.

Change A Life: Vote in Target Contest

Target is ready to donate a total of $3 million dollars to charity. Help decide which charities receive the much-needed dollars by voting in Target's Facebook contest. Each vote you cast will help change lives—at no cost to you.

Please vote now—and once every day until May 25. Your vote is your gift!

http://www.redcross.org/facebook

In less time than it took to read this post, 150 lives were saved or served by the Red Cross.

Your vote will help the Red Cross provide relief in the aftermath of 70,000 disasters, support 12,000 wounded service members, train 10 million in health and safety, reduce measles deaths worldwide and collect 6.5 million units of blood—in a single year.

Now THAT's change to believe in – do your part, vote.

World Red Cross Day, May 8

The month of May has all kind of notable dates. Along with being National Scrapbooking Month, National Strawberry Month, and National Family Month, this day in May is significant for the Red Cross. Volunteers with the American Red Cross join today with 165 other national societies to commemorate World Red Cross/Red Crescent Day.

I live in Duluth, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

Our local Red Cross office serves the county of Gwinnett, and volunteers like me have had a busy month meeting the needs of residents following the floods and tree damage with our recent storms, on top of the devastation of our normal incidence of home fires.

Did you know that some of your neighbors – wherever you live in the world – are on call day and night to assist victims of disaster? Right in your own community, Red Cross volunteers offer recovery counseling as well as seeing to the immediate needs of food, shelter, medication and clothing.

Read about a Gwinnett family who is grateful for the assistance they received after a home fire here. Ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances are often surprised to learn that the American Red Cross receives no government funding…the aid offered is a gift from ordinary people like you and me.

You can help these volunteers continue to minister to your friends and neighbors by making a donation – no matter what size – today. Click here to make a secure donation right now.

If you'd like to learn more about the international efforts of the Red Cross, click here to read about how one Burundian refugee reconnected with family with Red Cross assistance.

It's a story of family, love and hope.

Please consider extending hope to people right here in our own country. Make your tax-deductible donation today.

Yes We Did!

Holiday Cards for Heroes 2008 just sent a message that not only did we achieve the goal of sending 1 million holiday cards to military personnel and their families, but surpassed it by 444,000!

My sincere thanks to each one of you who participated by sending cards or by telling others how to participate.

Here's a thank you video from Matt Broder of Pitney Bowes.

Be Safe & Be A Blessing

The American Red Cross and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released results of a survey showing the majority (79%) of Americans are concerned about the rising cost of heating their homes, and many will use an alternative heating source to reduce their bills this winter. The survey also identified increased fire hazards with appliance maintenance and cooking. 

“As we head into, what by all accounts is likely to be a very costly heating season, these survey results and Fire Prevention Week provide a critical opportunity for us to remind people about the things they can do to prevent home fires and keep their families safe and warm this winter,”  said NFPA President James. M. Shannon. “If people use alternative heat sources to reduce energy costs, it is critical they use devices that are new or in good working order, and they turn off units when they go to bed or leave the room.”   

The American Red Cross has a wonderful site featuring Tips for Holiday Safety. While you're learning how to keep your family and your house safe this Christmas, please consider donating to the Red Cross. Never has your assistance been more desperately needed as volunteers all over this country train and prepare to respond to disasters over the holiday season in an economy that has seen donations fall dramatically.

Your donation today means volunteers will leave their families during their own holiday celebrations knowing that they have the resources to help those in our community who have just lost everything in a house fire...an event that is always traumatic, but even more deeply felt during this season. Click here to donate now. Thank you!

The G, H and I of Hurricanes

Whew! What a start to Hurricane season in the south. Regular postings of stamping and scrapbooking will resume shortly; the needs of those displaced from their homes due to Hurricane Gustav and planning for Hurricanes Hanna and Ike have occupied my attention for the last several days.

I'm a disaster relief volunteer with the American Red Cross and my part in meeting relief needs is small. The Red Cross chapter I volunteer with is the Metro Atlanta Chapter. CEO Tim English today issued the following update...please read it and if you are able to do so, consider donating to the Red Cross. As an independent, non-governmental agency supported solely by donations, the extreme disaster needs since Hurricane Katrina threaten the ability of the Red Cross to continue to serve the American people at the level they need and deserve. Each one of you really CAN make a difference by donating now.

Tim English says...

"As you know, during the past week nearly two million residents of Louisiana evacuated their homes to escape the wrath of Hurricane Gustav. While the hurricane did not have devastating effects on New Orleans as predicted, it left a trail of destruction across Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle. The Red Cross opened more than 500 shelters across the country to provide a safe haven for evacuees, mobilized more than 6,000 Red Cross disaster relief workers, and delivered nearly half a million meals.

"Here in Georgia, the Red Cross has sheltered approximately 1,000 evacuees in eight locations across the state. We’ve served 4,841 meals, distributed 1,098 comfort kits, and provided much-needed emotional support. And, of course, as these families return home, the Red Cross will once again be ready to help them meet their emergency needs.

"Meanwhile, Georgia’s Red Cross pre-positioned equipment, supplies, and disaster workers in preparation for Tropical Storm Hanna, which, fortunately, no longer appears to be a major threat to our state. However, we are closely monitoring Tropical Storm Ike, which could become a major hurricane threatening the East Coast next week. Shelters are on alert to open for potential evacuees in four states – Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
 
"We are now at the midway point of the hurricane season (the season runs through November 30) and it is shaping up to be one of the most catastrophic on record. The Red Cross projects that the cost of the 2008 Hurricane Season is already between $25 and 30 million. We need our community to come together to help fund the massive cost of this relief operation.

"Would you make a special gift today in support of the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund? Your donation will be put to work immediately to operate shelters, provide meals for evacuees, and buy items such as cots, blankets, and toiletries."

Click here to make a secure, online donation.

In addition to sheltering evacuees from Hurricane Gustav, Metro Atlanta Chapter volunteers responded to nine fires in seven counties over the Labor Day weekend, helping 97 people meet their emergency needs.

Free -- er...Liberate -- the Rice

Did you know that isinglass means mica glass? Or that picaroon is another name for pirate?

I stumbled on a site recently that is simple, educational, fun and making a difference in world poverty. At www.freerice.com a significant amount of money has been raised just by people playing a free vocabulary game. Every correct answer means a donation of 20 grains of rice to feed the hungry. The funds are distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme.

In an interview on National Public Radio earlier this week, founder John Breen explained that he got the idea from watching his son study for the S.A.T. exam. Breen created the site and typed in the 10,000 definitions into the database. The money donated is actually collected from corporations who pay to advertise on the site.

So, take a break from your Christmas preparations...go to www.feedrice.com where you can play a little, learn a little and feed the hungry all at the same time!

Then come back and report your high score -- mine is 46...but I'm working on it.  :-)