Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.17, it's FLX Morning Thursday, and it's our monthly visit with the Red Cross. Michael Tedesco is with us. Good morning. Good morning, Ted. How are you?
Michael Tedesco: Doing well.
Paul Szmal: We're going to take an overall look at 2024 through the eyes of the Red Cross, and the obvious place to start is disaster response, the number of big disasters just keeps going up and up.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, it's really incredible. The intervals between disasters of real big magnitude just keep getting shorter and shorter. This year we were providing relief to $24 billion disasters, that's 24 disasters that have price tags associated with them of more than a billion dollars, and that's topped only by last year's when we had 28 of those types of disasters. And of course, Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit right back to back, and what happens in these cases is the headlines fade and the news moves on to something else, and life for those people is nowhere near back to normal.
Paul Szmal: So what do you hear for the people in the path of those two hurricanes, and how are they doing in recovery?
Michael Tedesco: We knew right from the start that this wasn't going to be a quick fix, that we expected to have people down there into the new year, and we still do have volunteers down there helping out, especially in the most hard hit areas, northern Florida, western North Carolina, Georgia. But even prior to that, we had people staged in South Carolina, Tennessee, so all the areas that were impacted, and really proud to say that more than 80 volunteers from western New York volunteered at some point in relief efforts in those communities.
Paul Szmal: And of course, wildfires also seem to be on the increase, and that's a relatively new one. I mean, we've always had them, but not seemingly in the numbers that we're getting now. Nor the places, right?
Michael Tedesco: Right. We're seeing them in the northeast, even around the New York City area, so, you know, it's all part of... I know it can be a political hot button, but I don't think there's any denying that weather patterns are changing, and we're living in a warmer climate, in some cases, or in some areas, a drier climate that leads to drought and produces the kind of... the components you need for wildfires. So, yeah, every year it seems we're deploying people, usually out west, to battle wild... to help communities that are battling wildfires, and, you know, now we're seeing it right around the corner.
Paul Szmal: The Red Cross fed 7 million people, 7 million meals and snacks this year, triple the usual average. How do you handle this from a budgetary standpoint, when you just have a big year and you get socked?
Michael Tedesco: Well, we rely... You know, as a not-for-profit organization, we rely on the generosity of our donors, and, you know, people in our region stepped up, but corporations stepped up in a huge way during this fall, when the national news was focused on the disasters that were Helene and Milton. But there are other times of the year where, you know, our work continues, much under the headlines and out of the public eye. We really depend on the continued support of people to enable us to carry out our mission.
Paul Szmal: These events... I'm sorry, go ahead.
Michael Tedesco: No, no, no, go ahead, Ted.
Paul Szmal: I was going to say, these events create a vicious circle in that, in the areas that these disasters hit, there's a great need for blood, and then blood drives get canceled. I'm sure there have been no blood drives around Asheville, North Carolina, or any place like that in a while, so it really creates a difficulty for the agency.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, you're absolutely right, and, you know, it's an organization that is big on planning, so the Red Cross had pre-positioned some extra blood supplies, as best you can, because some blood products just don't have a long shelf life, but the national organization did move some blood supplies to areas that we expected to be hard hit, but still, those areas lost hundreds and hundreds of drives, and, you know, we put that message out locally, and people responded in wonderful fashion, like Western New York folks and Finger Lakes folks always do.
Paul Szmal: Another thing we've seen this year is a number of extreme heat incidents, especially in the Southwest, in places like Arizona, and you have a lot of people getting trained in being first responders, CPR, AED, and those kinds of trainings.
Michael Tedesco: Absolutely. Every year, we probably train 50,000 to 60,000 people in some type of life-saving skills. A lot of those are in the use of AED, CPR, of course. That interest spiked after Damar Hamlin's incident a couple of January's ago, so, you know, a lot of good work done by Red Cross instructors in the area to help make communities safer, because you never know who's going to be around when an emergency strikes, and if there's someone who's trained, it increases the individual's chance of survival significantly.
Paul Szmal: I hadn't thought of the way all these things tie together. We always say that service to the armed forces is one of the lesser-known things the Red Cross does, yet what it was founded on, and in this case, a significant amount of service to armed forces, was getting information to families in these affected areas.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Southeast has, you know, a number of military bases and military personnel stationed in those areas, so, you know, we did answer thousands of calls from military families who needed help or help locating loved ones during those emergencies.
Paul Szmal: And before all this was happening, we were talking earlier in the year about the shortage in the blood supply, so tell us about Friendsgiving and how people can help replenish that supply.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, you know, we try to make things entertaining and fun and provide incentives thanks to some great partners, and, you know, I think the Friendsgiving episode of Friends was one of the most popular, so we're celebrating that. Anyone who comes in to donate from November 18th to December 8th will get a pack, two pairs of Friends-themed socks. So you can keep one, give a pair to a friend or family member. So while supply is last, stop in between those dates and you'll take those home with you. RedCrossBlood.org for biomed services and RedCrossBlood.org slash Friends to find out more about that special incentive.
Paul Szmal: Of course, another way we can help is to volunteer and get trained.
Michael Tedesco: Absolutely. Like I said, we had 80 folks, more than 80 folks, who have rotated in and out of volunteer positions in the Southeast in the wake of the hurricanes. Kind of leaves the folks back here a little thin in responding because our situation up here didn't change. We were still responding to home fires and other disaster events. In fact, the first quarter of our fiscal year, which began July 1st, since that time, we've had 215 disaster responses that involved almost 400 families that were in need. So the folks who stayed behind were taxed. We put out a call for additional volunteers. People came to boot camps to learn how they can be of help. And that was really uplifting to see how many people replied to that request. But there will always be a need because, as we discussed, these disasters are becoming more intense, more frequent, and require a longer recovery period.
Paul Szmal: We talked last month about the importance of cash in disaster response because it's liquid. It can be spent in the affected area. We don't have to warehouse and then transport items. So a cash donation is a big way to help.
Michael Tedesco: Absolutely. Like I said earlier, we rely on the generosity of donors. We've had great corporate sponsors who stepped up again during what we call gray skies when we have active national disasters going on. But there are plenty of blue sky needs as well. Again, just for this quarter of our fiscal year, more than 200 disaster responses. We've handled more than 140 service to the armed forces cases. We've had 500 SAF case services. We've held nearly 1,800 blood drives already this fiscal year. So our work continues. And that's all done with a very small staff and a very dedicated force of volunteers. But there are enormous costs associated with carrying out those services.
Paul Szmal: Well, these numbers are staggering both in terms of the need and in terms of the Red Cross response. So help if you can at RedCross.org. Start a blood drive. Go to a blood drive. Give a gift. Volunteer and get trained. Michael Tedesco, thanks for the time. Thanks for everything you've done in this season. And we know the Red Cross will be there for years to come.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, we absolutely will. And we thank you, Ted, for the opportunity to get our message out. And certainly thank your listeners.
