Letter from Mid-West Tennessee Executive Director, David Hicks - February 2018

Hello Mid-West Tennessee team!! I hope that the start of the new year has been kind to all of you so far. I can’t believe the month of January is already in our rear view! As we look toward the spring and all of the activities and events we’ll be a part of as a chapter, I want to stress again how much we appreciate each of you and the vital role you play in the local disaster response we provide week in and week out throughout our 14 county coverage territory. We feel fortunate to have each and every one of you!

As many of you are now aware (but some aren’t) we have officially rescheduled our “Sound the Alarm, Save a Life” smoke alarm installation national campaign to Saturday, April 21st in McNairy Co. We’ll be doing installations in both Selmer and Adamsville in our effort to install 400 smoke alarms! We hope that many of you can carve out the time that day to join us for a road trip. Simply go to the following link to officially register for the event:  redcross.org/STAjackson

Lastly, I’m thrilled to report that we have recruited 5 Community Volunteer Leaders as of the end of January! These “CVL”s (as they are known) cover the following counties for us: Chester, Hardeman, Henderson, Madison and McNairy. We are also currently doing additional recruiting for a CVL in Benton county. Our desire is to eventually have at least 1 CVL recruited in each of our 14 counties territory.  The position expectation is that the CVL will be networked in the community and serve as an ambassador for our chapter and our disaster response services by helping us recruit additional volunteers and help promote our chapter in the local media. Please let me know if you have strong recommendations for people for this position in the following counties: Carroll, Crockett, Decatur, Gibson, Hardin, Haywood, Henry and Weakley.   Take care and I hope each of you has an enjoyable February (Happy Valentine’s Day!).

- David