Letter from Heart of Tennessee Executive Director, Mike Cowles - January 2016

Greetings

Each year, without fail, I set 3-5 New Year’s resolutions and usually only accomplish 1 or 2 goals.  Losing weight is always my top priority along with having a healthy diet and controlling my stress.  Those 3 goals I usually fail miserably at within the first few weeks of the year. 

One goal I have each year that I do believe I’ve improved on is better communication.  This is a tricky act to accomplish, particularly when deciding what to say and when to say it in different situations.  Communication is something we use every day of our lives.  Our children communicate every day at school and at home, we adults communicate 24/7 with e-mail, text, Facebook and believe it or not, some of us still use the telephone to communicate. 

No matter what goals or resolutions you have set this year, try to do the following to better your community.

1.     Enroll in an American Red Cross Health and Safety Training course:  Learn how to perform CPR, use an AED machine, do first aid, how to swim, be trained to baby sit or how to save a life.

2.    Make a Disaster Kit:  What do you need for you and your family to survive when disaster strikes?

3.    Support our Armed Forces:  Did you know we work with Active Military personnel and their families.  The Red Cross also supports various efforts at the VA hospital and State Veteran’s Home.

4.    Get involved:   You may not realize this but everyone has a skill that we can use here at the American Red Cross.  You can be a front desk greeter, do data entry, train others, go out on disaster calls or be a smiling face that makes a difference.

Whatever New Year resolution you choose, I encourage you to include one of the above functions here at the American Red Cross.  Please feel welcome to stop by our office to find out the many possibilities there are for you to serve.   Make a difference in your community, you will never regret it!

Mike