The Howard family was cold and wet when they arrived at the Red Cross shelter, with only one thing on their minds---staying together.

Their wish was fulfilled at Glenn Hills Middle School, where they found cots, warm blankets and caring volunteers to provide shelter.

Just hours before, Nicole Howard and her seven kids had been enjoying the rain. They thought nothing of the few inches that covered the street outside, and a few of the kids even went out to play.

“When it started raining, we didn’t think it would get that bad. But things got worse fast,” Nicole remembers.

As the water rose in the street, so did Nicole’s concern. She called the kids in, and they started watching the water---first in their basement, then in the driveway. They started to measure the water by how high the level was on her sports utility vehicle parked outside.

“We just kept watching and it kept coming up,” she says. “I was so scared, I didn’t know what to do.”

When the water in the basement reached the top step of the basement steps, Nicole called her husband and asked him to come home. However, no matter what road he tried, he was unable to reach their stranded family through the flooded streets. Eventually, his car stalled from the water.

Meanwhile, Nicole and her kids decided to brave the water to find help. They gathered basic necessities and joined their neighbors walking through the waist-high water.

“People were walking with babies on their shoulders,” she recalls. “We were bunched together just trying to get somewhere safe.”

Once they reached the shelter at Glen Hills safely, Nicole’s thoughts shifted to another purpose: keeping everyone together. None of their friends’ homes were large enough to hold their large family, so they opted to stay at the shelter until they could find a home for everyone. They did not want to be split up.

The next day, they returned to their home to find a damaged foundation and a water line that covered their entire first floor. The only thing the family could save was their beds and refrigerator, though they tried to find anything---anything---they could save.

“We opened the bottom of the stove and it was filled with water,” she says sadly. “We lost all the kids’ clothes because I was doing laundry the next day. Everything was in the basement. They lost all their shoes---we couldn’t even save the shoes they wore to the shelter because the smell of sewage never came out.”

For now, the only thing the family has is their makeshift home at the Red Cross shelter. Every morning they leave their cots to go to sports practices, to get things fixed, launder their clothes and look for a new home. Every night they return to their temporary home, full of hope and a busy to do list. One of Nicole’s sons studies for his SATs whenever he can at the shelter, and Nicole is getting herself ready to return to college in a few short weeks. She knows she doesn’t have much right now, but is happy for what she has---a place to stay.

“It’s been so nice, that we’ve been able to stay together. This was the best place for us,” she says with a smile. “Reality is setting in. We lost so much, like our baby pictures in the basement. We’ll never get those back. But the most important thing was that we were able to stay together.”

Having a baby is journey filled with joy and uncertainty. When your spouse is in the military, the uncertainty is compounded by the fear that he may not be there to hold your hand or meet your firstborn. Hoping to alleviate some of the stress caused by her husband's deployment, Katherine Jackson turned to the American Red Cross to eliminate some of the anxiety.

The Red Cross provides emergency leave verification services to men and women in the Armed Forces. When a member of the Armed Forces is expecting a child, Red Cross caseworkers verify a woman's pregnancy and provide military command with the necessary information so they can decide whether or not to grant leave. The father of the child is then informed of the status of the pregnancy and the due date.

Katherine Jackson contacted the Red Cross for help verifying the emergency. She said, “[Caseworkers] did it so his chain of command knew.”

Jackson talked with a caseworker who worked one-on-one with her to contact and confirm her situation with her doctor. “She was great. She was very friendly and everything…another caseworker checked up on me,” Katherine said.

The Jackson family was fortunate enough to be reunited June 3, one day before the birth of their daughter Caitlyn.

The Red Cross is dedicated to helping men, women and families involved with the Armed Services. For more information regarding the services we provide visit our Armed Services webpage.

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.

Only 100 pounds dripping wet, with a sweet smile and a steely determination easily missed with her small stature, Johnnie Blount has been through two surgeries, a fire that severely damaged her home and a broken leg requiring numerous hospital visits. But even with all the challenges mounting before her, this 63-year-old refuses to give up.

“I refuse to let this bring me down,” she says with a glint in her eye.

Her friend, Kenneth, who survived the fire, agrees. “All you have to have is determination,” he says.

On May 26, Johnnie returned home from surgery exhausted, and went to lie down. She was startled awake by the piercing voice of her grandson, “Get out! Get out! Fire!”

“All I could think about at that time was getting those kids out of the house,” she says emotionally. She started screaming for everyone to go outside.

With limited mobility from a recent back surgery, Johnnie, unfortunately, did not have the same option.

Her friend, Kenneth, tried desperately to get to Johnnie through the smoke. When he found he couldn’t, he pleaded desperately with firefighters to go to her.

The house was full of smoke and incredibly dark when a lone firefighter reached Johnnie’s bed. After determining that Johnnie could not walk, the firefighter evacuated the fragile woman through the house. By the time they had reached the street and her family, Johnnie was screaming from the pain of a broken leg. A few minutes later, she lost consciousness.

Outside, Kenneth waited with Johnnie’s family as volunteers from the Red Cross arrived with clothes and other supplies for the kids. Minutes later, he breathed a sigh of relief as the firefighter emerged with Johnnie. Now everyone was safe, and he started talking with the Red Cross about what to do next. Their family needed a place to stay, food and clothes.

Johnnie awoke a few minutes later with medical technicians standing over her. She begged to know if her family was okay. Once she had their assurances, she consented to go to the hospital to have her leg treated.

Two hospital visits and hours later, the family was finally reunited. The Red Cross had arranged for lodging, and gave the family food to eat. Kenneth was still in the clothes he had received just minutes after the fire.

“We lost all our food,” Johnnie says. “I lost my glasses, and we still don’t know where our cell phones are.”

Thanks to a concerned social worker, Red Cross caseworker and the volunteers on scene that night, Johnnie’s family is now starting the process of recovery.

“There are some good people in this world,” she says with tears in her eyes. “You just know good people.”

The next step for their family will be the hardest, but Johnnie is up for the challenge.

“I have to find a place for my grandkids and great-grandkids to live,” she says with determination.

But with the support of the Red Cross, and the knowledge that her family is safe, Johnnie is ready to face the challenges that come with relocating her young grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“This is a wonderful organization,” she says and gives a thumbs up.

Her friend, Kenneth, agrees. “They jumped right in to help,” he says.

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.

April 18-24 is Volunteer Appreciation Week. To end this important week, we are sharing a letter that highlights the efforts of our extraordinary volunteers who carry out the vital work of the Red Cross---ordinary people who donate their time and talents to help others. If you would like to join their ranks, visit our Volunteer page.

Dear Red Cross,

I had the opportunity to watch Red Cross volunteers in action for the first time when my daughter’s apartment building was on fire on the morning of February 1, 2010. In what could have been a hopeless and miserable situation, they were there immediately after the fire was reported. My daughter was able to escape the fire with just her sweatpants, t-shirt and shoes and her three-year-old son only had his underwear on because he usually gets so hot at night he took off his jammies. She was able to grab him, wrap him up in two blankets, and make it out just when the firemen came in with their hoses. They were both scared to death, but the Red Cross was able to help with their efficiency and caring.

You can imagine getting a phone call at 2:45 am from your daughter crying that her apartment building was on fire. We flew over there!! By the time we got there, the Red Cross was seeing to everyone’s needs--handing out blankets, guiding people onto a warm city bus, and they even had an outfit for our three-year-old grandson--a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt and some socks and some socks for my daughter. We had brought some extra blankets with us and an old jacket we still had at home for our daughter. Little Dominic thought the outfit was so cool, he didn’t take it off for two days!!

I had no idea the Red Cross came to these types of emergencies! I knew they helped people in need, but I guess I never realized the “up close and personal” help they gave in our own neighborhoods at any time of day or night.

Her apartment suffered severe smoke damage and they lost almost everything they had and they didn’t have insurance. They lost all their furniture, bedding, food, much of their clothing, toys, Christmas presents they just received in December, and much, much more. The Red Cross assistance gave her new hope that she could start over. They had to vacate their apartment building because the damage was extensive so they came to us until she could find another apartment. She will be moving into that apartment next week and I just wanted to tell you, on a personal note, how wonderful it is that the Red Cross helps people in need when they are so devastated and discouraged.

Our daughter is a wonderful single mom, works full-time and goes to school part-time. She’s trying so hard to make a good life for her son and herself and with the help of the Red Cross, she can continue to do that.

Please convey to your workers our sincere thanks and tell them how much they are appreciated! I can tell you that I know who will get our charitable contributions in the future to help keep you going!!

Sincerely,
Mary Spongberg

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.

Steve Vogt was in the middle of every parent’s worst nightmare as he bent over his motionless teenage son. The steps that he repeats to every one of his students ran through his head: Maintain an open airway, check breathing and circulation. Two breaths.

Then a more terrifying thought, “C’mon, Tyler, breathe.”

Tyler wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse. Steve asked his daughter to call 9-1-1.

Just moments before, Tyler had been talkative as he helped his father bring bags in from the truck. His 13-year-old sister and younger brother relaxed nearby in the living room. Father and son were chatting about how their week were going, and getting ready for the weekend. Then Steve’s healthy 16-year-old son collapsed, and his bag hit the floor.

Thinking that his son was goofing around, Steve started to admonish Tyler. His son’s still form made him realize this was not a teenage prank. A CPR instructor for the Red Cross, Steve went into automatic as he applied the steps he taught hundreds of times before.

Start CPR compressions. For a few precious minutes, Steve kept up the rate of 100 compressions per minute---the same rate that he had paced for students a hundred times before. Breath, breath. Compress the chest about 2 inches.

As his frantic daughter struggled to tell the dispatcher what was happening, Steve kept the cycle up, trying to forget the fact that he shared in his trainings: each minute without a defibrillation by an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) reduces the chance of survival by 10 percent. Later, he would find out that 95% of all victims of sudden cardiac arrest lose their life.

None of those facts mattered now. Like a metronome, Steve maintained his steady rhythm of compressions and breaths until Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel arrived just four minutes later with an AED.

“Everything was pretty automatic until EMS got there,” Steve admits. “Then I had to leave the room.”

As his son’s life, and his composure, hung in the balance, Steve sent his younger kids across the street to his parents’ home. Then he stood in the living room, listening as the EMS workers shocked his son once, then twice.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tyler’s pulse returned and he was transported to a local hospital then med-flighted for more advanced care. For the next few days, Steve concentrated on Tyler’s condition, as he regained consciousness and started to face the challenges that come with recovering from a sudden cardiac arrest.

It was during his constant vigil at his son’s bedside that the thoughts started to come.

“You start to play the ‘what if’ game. What if this had happened before I got home? Or when we went up to my cabin where there was no cell phone coverage? Or when we went to the Bucks game two weeks ago and Tyler stayed home alone?” Steve says, “Everything aligned that day.”

A little over a week later, Tyler was back in school with a new Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator in his chest. The device monitors his heart rhythm, controls any irregularities and can shock his heart if needed. Even with that tiny piece of comfort, Steve is now planning to hold a training for his family---everyone who is around Tyler on a regular basis---so they will have the life-saving skills if another emergency occurs.

For three years Steve has taught these skills to strangers, knowing that his words could one day save someone’s life. He never imagined it would be his son’s.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more. I have my son,” Steve stresses. “From this point forward, teaching those skills has taken on a whole new meaning.”

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.

Shortly after falling asleep, Scott Jameson woke in the middle of the night to the piercing cry of smoke alarms. Unaware of what to do, instinct took over as Scott rushed to get his wife, one-month-old and 19-month-old out of their home before smoke overwhelmed them.

Minutes later, he stood outside his home, consumed with worry and trying to keep his small children warm. With no shoes and a cold, crying baby in his arms, Scott watched as his home and belongings went up in flames.

“I was just hoping the fire was put out before all our stuff was ruined,” says Scott.

Red Cross Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteers arrived at the burning home and provided Scott, his wife and children with sweat suits so they could stay warm. They gave them slippers so they would not get frostbite, and made sure the baby and toddler were warm enough on that cold, winter night. As the volunteers talked to them about the next step, they gave them the things they would need for the future: food, contact numbers and information. They also helped the family make a call to their insurance company, so Scott and his wife could start thinking about recovery.

“It was so nice for someone to help us. We didn’t know what to do,” says Scott.

As Scott’s family readied to head to a hotel for the night, they worried about two small members of their family: their dogs. The fire had damaged their SUV--the only vehicle they owned that had enough room for their children and two dogs. Not wanting to separate the family after such a terrible time, the DAT Leader went beyond her normal call of duty and transported the Jamesons’ dogs to the hotel.

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.