Many of you may know me from my 25-year career as a Chamber of Commerce executive, serving as the president and CEO of the Manchester, Portsmouth, and Dover Chambers of Commerce. But today, I would like to introduce myself to you as the chair of the 2015 Heroes Breakfast for the American Red Cross in New Hampshire. The event is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2015 at Southern New Hampshire University; please join us if you are able. We will honor a small handful of ordinary people of NH, who have done extraordinary things to help people and save lives.
Having been raised by a mom who had epilepsy and a brain tumor that, when removed, left her as a half-paralyzed controlled epileptic, single mother of two young children, I grew up in the health care environment. So, at a very young age, I was aware of the fine work done by the Red Cross, and the support they gave to families like mine. Later in life, I was able to travel extensively as an international flight attendant, and wrapped myself around the globe more times than I have fingers and toes–I saw firsthand the Red Cross at work when the unexpected – the disaster and catastrophe – happened, the Red Cross marched in, when a community’s people could not walk, or even crawl out.
When I was asked to chair this important program, it took no consideration on my part, I was simply very honored to be asked, and thrilled to have the opportunity to give back to the organization that provides infrastructure when any one of us may need it most. About now, you may be scratching your head, and saying to yourself, all of this is well and good, but what does it have to do with me, and what does it have to do with my business or place of work? What does this subject have to do with my employer or my employees…and how in the world does it relate to our state’s business community?
As probably the most pro-business person you may ever meet, I want you to know that I believe that a vibrant, thriving business community is the very foundation of our community’s health and vitality. It is business that provides jobs to secure a desirable standard of living, so we can support the quality of life we want to live and raise our children in. A rich diversified business community contributes to the quality of the larger community in the ways in which only it can, molding and shaping the community to grow, to attract more employees and to employ more residents. And business contributes to the landscape and physical environment in ways often underappreciated, contributing by active engagement to the economic, social and political structure to make community improvements and to develop the community in ways that support and attract a quality workforce by creating competitive jobs. When everything goes right in a community, business is the tangible action agent for intangible good ideas to improve and protect community.
Going full-circle to articulate the relationship and interdependency between the Red Cross and business, let me offer for your consideration the following. In a large part, we feel safe in our community, because of the Red Cross. If we feel safe, then we keep and attract residents who will be employees and employers of business. We feel safe because if disaster or catastrophe happens the Red Cross will be at our side to help us. Seven-hundred New Hampshire residents are trained Red Cross volunteers. These people are your neighbors, friends, bosses and co-workers. They are the army that jumps in when no one knows where to turn. We can’t separate this basic community need of support at a time of crisis, away from business; it is good business sense to have the Red Cross as a partner and friend. And the Red Cross is an active part of many business models. For example, I recently talked to a bank president who ensures that the majority of staff is trained by the Red Cross, so that if a customer in line for service or a co-worker in a back room has an emergency, members of the staff are able to jump in to intervene and save lives. For some, it may not matter that someone is trained to help, until their life is compromised and they need a trained and qualified person to respond to the crisis situation without a moment of hesitation to save their life, or the life of someone they love.
It’s your employee who may be in a car accident on the way to work, it’s your co-worker who may be choking at the lunch room table, and it may be your customer who has a heart attack while waiting in line for service. We can’t choose when a crisis happens, and we can’t separate life from work, so by virtue of cause and effect, and by way of simply living life, crisis happens, and you had better bet, emergencies don’t chose a location, they happen as frequently in and outside of the work place. We’ve all lived through the three day snow and ice storms, floods, gas leaks and car accidents; some of us have experienced office or home fires, and some have lived through much worse. Those disasters affect business and the workplace as much as our home and family. When those emergencies happen, the person who reaches out a helping hand, and possibly saves your life may well have been trained by the Red Cross, and may be donating their time as a volunteer.
Did you know that the disaster action teams for the American Red Cross in New Hampshire respond to an emergency approximately every two days? The most common of those responses are to fire. It’s the Red Cross that provides clothing, food, water, access to medicine, and even a temporary place to stay. If that weren’t enough, the Red Cross in New Hampshire provides 7,000 rides per year for seniors and the disabled for medical appointments. If that service didn’t exist, you can bet more employees and co-workers would need more time off work to provide a loved one a ride to visit the doctor’s office. Think about 7,000 working adults needing time off from work to do what the Red Cross does every day and every month of the year.
Your friend, your co-worker, and your employee may be one of the Red Cross' 7,000 trained and unpaid volunteers, who are on call 24 hours 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Again, this supportive infrastructure cannot be separated from work and business. It is a vital support system that when we need it, it is the only thing that matters. We can’t pretend that crisis and emergencies don’t exist, or that they only happen to someone else. Most businesses have an emergency evacuation plan; many employees are trained in first-aid. We all know that we can only help if we are trained and ready; and we hope we won’t have to use the skills we have obtained, but the truth is that it is almost inevitable that we will, and we can only be of help if we have systems, mechanisms and institutions like the Red Cross fully integrated into our consciousnesses and our daily activity. We are a healthier business community with the Red Cross thriving, ready, willing and able to help us when the worst and the unanticipated happen.
If you are not already doing so, I hope you will integrate the Red Cross into your business plan. I also hope you will consider supporting the Red Cross financially. Remember that the kids whose house just burned down, they have lost the sense of security they knew--it is the Red Cross that will provide those children a teddy bear for comfort and reassurance that life will return to normal. It is the Red Cross that will make it possible for the parents of those kids to go to work in the morning. Who could ask for a better business partner that the American Red Cross?
Please join us in celebrating March as American Red Cross Month nationwide, and please consider this an invitation to attend or sponsor our Heroes Breakfast on March 5, 2015 at Southern NH University--and please write your check today, and remember to give the gift of life by donating blood too.
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