Winter Bookmobile Coming Soon

The Winter run of the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis' Bookmobile will begin in a few weeks! Many of our bookmobile schools have already been scheduled (see sidebar at left). This season we are excited to be bringing our new Scrubby Bear program out with us as we travel from school to school to share this exciting disease information with first grade students. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Winter Safety

Ready Eddie: Burrr, it sure is cold out there!

Prepared Patty: You're telling me! I am glad I prepared myself for the weather by wearing my warm jacket, hat, and gloves.

Ready Eddie: Have you seen the weather forecast lately. I think soon we might get some-

Confused Connie: SNOW!!!! I LOVE SNOW!!!! SNOW IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!

Ready Eddie: I agree. I love playing in the snow. But snow can also be very dangerous.

Confused Connie: Dangerous? But how?

Ready Eddie: Winter weather can cause lots of problems. A lot of them have to do with car accidents. Driving in winter conditions can be extremely hazardous. You could crash or become stranded.

Prepared Patty: That is exactly right, Eddie, which is why it is important to make sure every car your ride in has a disaster supplies kit!

Confused Connie: I think I remember now. We talked about having disaster supplies kits this summer at the summer camps. So . . . is they why we told everyone to have a kit every house AND every car?

Ready Eddie: Yes! Winter weather isn't the only situation you might need supplies in your car for, but it is definitely an important one to be ready for.

Confused Connie: What if I just stay out of cars? Will winter be safe for me then?

Prepared Patty: Definitely not! Winter storms are dangerous for everyone and can cause many problems. Large storms can knock the power out for days! That can be very scary for people who aren't prepared.

Ready Eddie: You have to be ready to prevent dangerous situations, like hypothermia.

Confused Connie: Hypothermia? I don't remember what that is!

Ready Eddie: Hypothermia is when you body gets so cold, it starts to shut down. It is a very serious condition.

Confused Connie: Oh no! What can I do?

Ready Eddie: It is important to make sure you are ready when winter storms hit! Having a disaster supplies kit in your home can be very helpful during this time.

Prepared Patty: Yes, especially one packed with extra blankets and warm clothing.

Confused Connie: Okay, that makes sense. My family has a wood stove, too, so that should help, right?

Ready Eddie: That is a good way to keep warm when the power is out, but don't forget to be careful with any wood stove, fireplace, or other heating device. If you're not, you could start a fire!

Confused Connie: Really? A fire? When it is so cold out??

Prepared Patty: Definitely! But you can prevent fire by not leaving heating sources on when you're not arround, and making sure your smoke detectors are working and have fresh batteries.

Confused Connie: I think I can do that. There is a lot to think about with winter weather! But is it still okay for me to have fun in the snow?

Ready Eddie: Of course! Just make sure you have warm winter clothes on.

Confused Connie: Good! Now that I know how to stay safe, I can still be excited about making snow forts again!

Prepared Patty: And that will be a good way to be prepared for the snowball fights I am sure we will be having.

Ready Eddie: I can't wait!


Now that you've thought about being prepared for winter weather, what are some important items for your winterized disaster supplies kit? Below is a word find with some good ideas for items you should be sure to have. Click on the puzzle for a larger, printable version:

Scrubby Bear Game

The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis has now brought the Scrubby Bear Program to over 500 area kids! To celebrate, here is a Scrubby Bear word find. See if you can find all the words hidden within this puzzle and remember how they relate to staying healthy! Click the puzzle to enlarge.

Scrubby Bear Comes to Indianapolis!

The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis is proud to present the Scrubby Bear Program as a the newest addition to our Youth and Educational Outreach offerings! Scrubby Bear is a Red Cross program designed for Kindergarten and First Grade aged-children about the importance of hand washing. Proper hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent diseases such as colds, flu, Hepatitis A, and infectious diarrhea. Due to recent outbreaks of potentially pandemic flu like H1N1, this information is more important than ever!

The young participants in this half hour program learn about how germs are spread and discuss methods to prevent infection. Hand washing techniques are practiced and other good hygiene tips discussed. Central to this presentation is the story of Scrubby Bear, a young bear who knows a lot about good hygiene practices! At the end of the presentation, participants become official card-carrying members of the Scrubby Bear Clean Hands Club after taking the club pledge.

If you are interested in bringing this popular and innovative program to your Kindergarten and First Grade students, contact Adam Moschell, head of youth activities at the Indy Red Cross chapter, at 317-396-9419 or amoschell@redcross-indy.org, to schedule a presentation.

Remember what Scrubby Bear says: "Don't get sick! Wash up quick!"

Bookmobile 2009!

The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis is gearing up for their first Bookmobile visits of the school year at participating IPS schools. The gang is preparing the Bookmobile. . .

Ready Eddie: Hey guys! I just got back from the Bookmobile Room. Wow, we have tons of books! And we still have tons more to unpack!

Confused Connie: That is really exciting! The Red Cross is going to make a lot of money selling books this year!

Prepared Patty: Connie, don't you know anything about the Red Cross Bookmobile? The Red Cross doesn't sell books, they give them away!

Confused Connie: Really? For FREE?

Ready Eddie: Yeah, isn't that cool?

Confused Connie: Wait . . . do the kids get to keep the books, or do they just borrow them, like at the library? The library is free . . .

Prepared Patty: They get to keep the books.

Confused Connie: Forever?

Ready Eddie: Forever.

Confused Connie: That is really cool! How nice of the Red Cross! But . . . what kind of books? They aren't dumb books, are they? Are they . . . about the Red Cross?

Prepared Patty: No silly! We worked really hard to research what kinds of books kids are into.

Ready Eddie: Yeah! We have stuff like Goosebumps and Junie B. Jones and The Magic Treehouse and Hannah Montana . . .

Confused Connie: I LOVE Hannah Montana!

Prepared Patty: I'm more into Goosebumps. I've read all the Goosebumps. Hannah Montana is not very prepared, Connie.

Ready Eddie: . . . and books about sports and science and comic book characters . . .

Prepared Patty: We better go get the Bookmobile ready! We have lots of books to distribute!

Confused Connie: Okay! Bye guys! I can't wait to start giving out free books to the kids at our bookmobile schools!

Ready Eddie: . . . and classics and joke books and Cheetah Girls and Hardy Boys graphic novels . . .

Summer Youth Program in Madison County

This summer, the Red Cross provided the Youth Disaster Preparedness Program in Madison County for the first time. We were able to do this thanks to the Indiana United Way Disaster Fund. Adam M and Katie B from Indianapolis helped me to get the program up and running.

A special thanks goes out to Hannah, Dani, Kali, and Tom. With the help of these 4 youth leaders, we visited 8 locations in Madison County- in Anderson, Alexandria, Lapel, and Pendleton- doing a presentation and a follow-up session a week later at each site. This includes the YMCA, several daycare facilities, and school registration at the Wigwam. We gave a total of 10 disaster preparedness presentations to kids in grades K-8. Fifty kids completed their Family Disaster Plans, and 14 of those lucky kids won Emergency Preparedness Kits for their families.

A total of 293 Madison County kids were reached this summer!

I’ve really enjoyed this experience and I’m proud to know that 293 kids and their families are better prepared for disasters!

Thanks!

Katie Ayers

The Youth Department Goes to the Children's Museum

On the evening of Thursday, August 4^th, the American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis’ Youth Initiative team was pleased to participate in the Playfit Family Night at the Children’s Museum: a free admission night where families can come together before the start of the school year. The Red Cross was one of many organizations to have a booth at this event. We reached hundreds of youth and adult residents of Indianapolis with tons of Red Cross information.

Along with a variety of informational pamphlets and booklets, we brought along two Red Cross games to help educate the participants in disaster preparedness: the Prize Wheel and the Mystery Box. At the Prize Wheel we gave out nearly 400 prize bags to kids who answered questions about disaster preparedness and first aid. At the Mystery Box kids pulled an item from the box and explained why or why not that item would be a good thing to put in a disaster preparedness kit, in exchange for some Red Cross band-aids.




Our youth representatives had a great time at this event, and we hope you did too!

The next event the Youth Initiative will be attending is the August 20th Back 2 School Celebration at school 110.