The Red Cross announces the 2012 Heroes Campaign | Community Spirit

Five teams are competing to see which can be the first to raise $2,000 for the area Red Cross Heroes Campaign, according to Chair Sheila Eckman.  “This is a great group of aspiring heroes,” says Eckman, “and we have an added dimension this year in that three of the teams are actually established groups.”

“We have two rugged individualists.  One is Husky Kirkwood of Gold Hill, who is covering Chambers County and focusing on area veterans and their families,” says Eckman.  “Susie Thomas, of Auburn, will be seeking donations from students, friends and businesses.  But none of our teams will achieve hero status unless they meet their goals.”

The three other teams include the self-named Geezers, a local think tank of sorts which meets daily for coffee and refined political discussion, according to Eckman.  Their leader in this effort is Bob Mount.  They are all male and “of an age.”  Another group, the Mystical Order of East Alabama Fiction Writers—just publishing its second book—is all female and declines to discuss age, according to Head Mystic Gail Langley.

The third group is the Daddy-O Club, a recently reactivated club composed of the children and grandchildren of the late Cal James, Sr.  When his children were young, James conducted meetings for those 12 and under, the purpose of which was focusing on kindness and doing for others.  According to Dora James, the charter members, now grown, have decided this is the time and the purpose for reactivating the Daddy-O Club.

Donations in support of any of these teams can be given to team members or sent to: Red Cross, 206-26th Street, Opelika, Ala. 36801.  The team’s name should be noted on the memo line of the check.  Team members can also provide links to their team page to make donations online. Or you can find them all at http://American.RedCross.org/Heroes.

The recent reorganization of the Red Cross combined three counties: Chambers, Lee and Russell.  Mary Littleton, Executive Director of the East Alabama Chapter, has stated that 93 percent of the money raised is used to provide services to clients, mainly because 97 percent of the work Red Cross does is done by volunteers. 

“All the money raised here supports our chapter’s efforts in these three counties,” says Littleton. “Actually, there has never been a year that this chapter didn’t spend more than it took in from donations. Thankfully, our national organization has made up the difference when we needed it.  But with hard economic times nationwide, we need more local support to prepare for the needs in our area.” 

Source: Red Cross East Alabama Chapter