Letter from Northeast Tennessee Executive Director, Glenda Bobalik - January 2016

The last few weeks of 2015 were certainly memorable.  Severe weather across the country had Red Cross workers dedicating their holidays to serving our friends and neighbors impacted by storms.   In Tennessee, the Red Cross has provided assistance to over seventy families, and the work continues today.  

As we begin 2016, volunteers are also responding to home fires with higher frequency in the colder months.    Starting a new year with such a loss must seem overwhelming to those affected.  So many of those affected by disaster tell us that the support of the Red Cross volunteers helping them through the challenges of rebuilding gives them strength to face the difficult road ahead.  It also reminds us of the need for our preparedness education programs with the opportunity to make our communities safer.

The New Year is a time of renewal and promise.  It reminds me of a quote from Edith Lovejoy Pierce:

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on
them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New
Year's Day.” 

As volunteers, donors, partners, and employees of the Red Cross, lets join together to seek opportunities in this New Year.  Expanding our team to include more people, reaching members of the community with preparedness messages, installing more smoke alarms, connecting military families in time of emergency,  and helping those affected by disaster are just a few of the opportunities we face. As we deliver services, listen to those we serve, extend a kind hand up to those less fortunate, and work together to serve our communities we will turn each of the opportunities into success stories.

Together, we can fill the pages of our opportunity book for 2016 with acts of generosity, kindness and service.  Thank you for all that you have done and will do for the American Red Cross.

Glenda