Youth

Here are a few ways you can help out without spending a dime:

INSTALL A YAHOO! SEARCH BAR
Help raise money for local disaster relief in New Jersey by installing a search toolbar in your browser.  Just go to http://download.freecause.com/?toolid=59011 and every search will raise a few cents.  25 searches a day is about 75 cents, or about $200 a year with nothing out of your pocket.  Please install the toolbar and send it out to your friends.  There's also a Facebook app at http://apps.facebook.com/red_cross/home (you can friend me there, too!)

HELP WITH MARCH IS RED CROSS MONTH
We are asking businesses in our chapter (Warren, Watchung, Green Brook North Plainfield in Somerset, most of Union and Dunellen, South Plainfield and Edison in Middlesex) to help us out by selling Red Cross Squares for $1.  Customers pay a buck, write their name on the square and tack it on the wall.  If 100 businesses raise $250 each that's $25,000 for our efforts, get to demonstrate their support for the community, get a mention and link on our website, and get listed in our press release and newspaper advertisement.

We are also collecting coins throughout the area in front of businesses (Stop and Shop, Home Depots, Dunkin' Donuts, etc.) every Saturday in March.  In December we did a small run and raised $1500 in just three hours.  We're looking for people to help out between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to collect coins in Red Cross containers on March 7, March 14, March 21 and March 28.  It's a great way for groups, students and families to help raise money and awareness for the Red Cross.

HOST A FREE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS SEMINAR IN MARCH
This one won't raise any money, but it could save lives. The Red Cross will provide a free Be Red Cross Ready seminar (forty five minutes) to any group that asks us, and it's all free.  Your Lions Club, Elks, library, church, business, Rotary or whatever can host the seminar for your own members, or sponsor it for the community to help raise awareness for your group.  It costs you absolutely nothing, and helps prepare families to handle emergencies that may come up from house fires to major flooding.

Just send me an e-mail, or call at (908) 756-6414 if you are interested in any of these programs.  If you are outside of my chapter, don't worry about it.  You have a local Red Cross, too and I will be happy to help you get in touch with them!

Nathan Rudy

Executive Director, Tri-County Red Cross

http://www.tricountyredcross.org

rudyn@usa.redcross.org

(908) 756-6414

Sunkist is giving away free lemonade stands for kids to sell lemonade on their block, but only as long as the kids promise to give their profit to a local non-profit group.

And one of the groups they recommend making donations to is the American Red Cross! 

Sunkist, with proud supporters Rubbermaid® and Domino®/C&H® Sugar, is inviting kids 7 to 12 years old across America to Take a Stand® for their favorite charity. It's a rewarding way to squeeze some fun into summer and give back to the community.

Last summer over 15,000 kids from every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada signed up to Take a Stand. Sunkist also received tremendous support from officials across the country as mayoral proclamations were issued in cities such as Buffalo, Dallas, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.

Thanks to the increasing number of heartfelt pledges received in the past few years, Sunkist plans to give out 20,000 free lemonade stands in 2008 to thoughtful kids eager to make a difference.

If you'd like to participate in this project to support the Tri-County Red Cross, please contact Corinna Krauskopf at (908) 756-6414 or krauskopfc@usa.redcross.org.  We'll be happy to promote your stand on this website and help in any way we can.

Update: Read more in the Front Page Courier News Article.

The Tri-County Red Cross has been working with local businesses, schools and volunteers over the past few weeks to collect toys for families in the Plainfield and Elizabeth areas.  Today volunteers in Plainfield are giving away close to two thousand toys to more than seven hundred children, and tomorrow will give them away in Elizabeth.

"This is the eleventh year we've held our holiday toy drive, and it is the largest we've ever helpd," said Executive Director Nathan Rudy.  "Unfortunately this year the need is greater than ever, but fortunately the people of the Tri-County area have stepped up to fill the need."

People interested in contributing to offset the costs associated with these drives and local disaster relief can contribute using the Google links to the right of this page.

Here are some photos of volunteers sorting the toys.

Every year the Tri-County Red Cross works with businesses and organizations from our local communities to collect turkeys, side dishes and money to make Thanksgiving possible for hundreds of families who might otherwise do without.

But no partner is more heartwarming than the Builder's Club from Scotch Plains' Terrill Middle School.  These kids, pictured to the right, get together weekly to plan ways to make their community better, and this November raised $400 for the Thanksgiving drive.  We used these funds to purchase the makings for traditional Thanksgiving side dishes for families in the Plainfield and Elizabeth areas.

The banner they are holding in this picture was put up at our Plainfield office on the day we gave out the Thanksgiving baskets, and was signed by many of the families these kids helped.  It is a small thank you for the incredible effort these kids put forward, and a well deserved one.

The Borders at the Watchung Square Mall on Route 22 in Watchung is asking their customers to purchase books or plushie toys to support the Tri-County Red Cross Holiday Toy Drive.  This is the first year we have partnereed wtih the Watchung Borders, and we are grateful for their support of our efforts.

For the past 10 years the Tri-County Red Cross has collected new and unopened toys for the holidays and distributed them to deserving kids in the Plainfield area.  In 2007 we doubled the program to include the Elizabeth area, as well, covering our entire chapter of 22 towns in three counties.

Many local businesses and schools collect toys each year to support this effort, and we are grateful for their help.  The Holiday Toy Drive is completely supported by local donations of money and toys, and managed by volunteers throughout our communities.

You can support the program by calling Denise at (908) 756-6414, or dropping off new and unopened toys or clothing at our offices at 332 West Front Street, Plainfield, NJ or 16 Jefferson Avenue, Elizabeth NJ. 

You can also donate online to support the Holiday Toy Drive and our other programs that support the community.

P.S. Don't forget the Day of Giving this weekend, including the Victorian Holiday House Tour in North Plainfield!