Letter from Mid-West Tennessee Executive Director, David Hicks - March 2020

Happy New Year Mid-West Tennessee Chapter volunteers! It may seem strange to hear me say that this late into the new year, but this is the first newsletter to be distributed in 2020, so… why not? I hope that each of you have enjoyed a great start to 2020 and have already enjoyed your service in our Red Cross chapter as we are already on the doorstep of March. I honestly believe this year is going by even faster than last year did- and I didn’t think that was even possible.

The next time each of you receive my next newsletter article, we’ll already be on the doorstep of two of our chapter’s main annual events. First, our “Sound the Alarm, Save a Life” home fire campaign will take place on Saturday, April 18 from 9:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. It will be hosted by the City of Jackson Fire Department and the Madison County Fire Department. They will both serve as our primary event partners and we are so thankful for their support and resources. Our smoke alarm install goal for that day will be 250. Please note, we will have a neighborhood canvassing exercise on the Saturday morning prior (Saturday, April 11) from 9:00 a.m. to noon as we distribute door hangers and place signs in the two targeted neighborhoods to generate awareness and recruit prospects for our event coming up the following Saturday. Please make plans to join us for both weekends if your schedule allows.

Our chapter’s annual Heroes Luncheon showcase event is coming up at the end of April on Wednesday, April 29 from 11:30 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. at the Grant Center event venue on the campus of Union University. Please come join us as we take a moment to look back over our chapter’s fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) and celebrate our chapter’s activities and accomplishments. We’ll also highlight those individuals who helped make us successful and went above and beyond in their commitment level to the American Red Cross. This year’s program theme will center around celebrating our partnerships with the Emergency Management Agencies in our chapter’s 14 county territory- and specifically the directors that we work so closely alongside. As always, this will be a meaningful time together with your volunteer peers and the community and you will not want to miss this event.

I think that you will agree with me when I say that we have more than enough on our plate over the next couple of months with the intense amount of planning and preparation that both of these events will require in order to make them each successful, along with all of our other chapter duties that don’t slow down from day to day, week to week (home fire responses, Services to the Armed Forces activities, Pillowcase Project presentations, Red Cross training and development, etc., etc.). Let’s buckle up and kick off this first quarter of 2020 in style!