Lipscomb hosts 2008 Red Cross breakfast
Chris Pepple |
When President Randy Lowry welcomed the participants of the 2008 Red Cross Breakfast, he acknowledged that Lipscomb University seemed the perfect fit for such an event. As an engaging, serving and welcoming community, Lipscomb remains committed to many of the values held by the Red Cross. As Colleen Zakrewsky, CEO of the Nashville Area Red Cross, welcomed the audience to the breakfast, she emphasized the organization’s commitment to the common cause of ensuring that Middle Tennessee is the safest community in the nation, reaching out to the business community and individuals to help achieve this goal. The Red Cross works tirelessly to recruit, train, motivate and retain volunteers to provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
Richard Patton steps on stage as if he had been sleeping. Fred Smith asks participants to assist the Red Cross through personal and corporate commitments. Colleen Zakrewsky greets the morning crowd. Mayor Karl Dean moves Nashville toward disaster preparedness.
The 600 participants for the breakfast sat at tables with numbers corresponding to statistics for the success of many Red Cross programs in 2006-07. Table number 471,594 represented the dollar amount given to families in Middle Tennessee in emergency disaster assistance. Table number 52,498 showed the number of total Middle Tennesseans reached by the American Red Cross. During the past year, 12,700 people were educated through free community preparedness programs and 18,951 school students received hearing and vision screening.
To further emphasize both the successes and the ongoing needs of the Nashville Area Red Cross, Richard Patton, chief manager for Courage Capital Management and chairman of the Nashville Area Red Cross Board of Directors, stepped onto the stage dressed as if he had been sleeping. He reminded the audience that in February many Tennesseans were asleep one minute and then awake the next moment to a new reality. Tornadoes sweeping through the area, affected seven local counties and thousands of residents, destroying homes, cars and businesses. Through its sixteen paid staff members and thousands of volunteers, the Red Cross responded to the disaster with humanitarian aid.
In response to the 75,000 annual worldwide disasters ranging from fires to floods, the Nashville Area Red Cross developed a new challenge for the area: Join the 10,000. The vision for this program includes recruiting 10,000 volunteers to help sustain this community in the event of a large-scale disaster. The organization announced that to this date 3,200 recruits have joined the program with 2,400 volunteers trained to respond to emergency situations. The Volunteer Leadership Corps has recruited and trained 120 members and $250,000 has been raised to support this program and the ongoing work of the organization.
Guest speaker Fred Smith, chairman, president and CEO of Fed Ex, stressed his personal and business commitments to the Red Cross. In November 2007, the most disastrous month in recent history, Bangladesh felt the effects of a powerful cyclone. Mexico was hit with torrential rains. Tropical storm Noel hit the Dominican Republic. Wildfires blazed out of control in Southern California. As the Red Cross reached out to each area, Fed Ex offered their resources to help alleviate the pain and suffering of so many. The company offered their trucks and airplanes to get food and supplies to those in need. They sent fire retardant materials to the San Diego fire department and fire relief kits to many people affected by the fires. These are just a few of the relief efforts Fed Ex has assisted with in their ten-year partnership with the Red Cross.
Smith encouraged every business to support the Red Cross and prepare themselves and their employees for disasters. He urges companies to use their core competencies to support the Red Cross in minimizing the effects of unpredictable forces of nature. Retailers could pledge to offer 250 pairs of shoes to the Red Cross annually. Bankers could provide financial counseling to people who have lost their homes and businesses. After Hurricane Katrina, IBM provided a database resource to the Red Cross, giving victims a place to apply for aid online and giving the Red Cross access to programs utilized to verify information on each applicant.
Smith acknowledged the assistance that could be offered if each individual and each organization made their expertise available to the Red Cross. Smith asked everyone present to not only make their organizations resources available to the Red Cross, but to also volunteer their personal time. He also asked everyone to have a disaster response plan prepared for their company, their employees and their families.
Every eight minutes, some type of disaster strikes our world. Today’s breakfast brought the community together to honor and support the amazing work of the Red Cross as that organization responds to the disasters and to renew our commitment to support their efforts. Mayor Karl Dean renewed Nashville’s commitment to leading the nation in disaster preparedness and thanked the Red Cross their work in touching the lives of some many in this area.