Looking for a great place at which to complete your student service learning requirements? Try the Red Cross!

Your service will make a difference in your community. And, by helping others, you will change your own life.

There’s so much to be done.

• Disaster response

• Blood collection

• Life-saving health and safety training

• Service to the Armed Forces

• International Service

• Office support and more.

Red Cross Club News

• Newton High School Red Cross Club

• Sussex County Community College Red Cross Club – (New this year!)

• Both clubs have made “ghoulie bags” for children in the community. Ghoulie bags have sweet Halloween treats as well as Red Cross Safety Tips for having a safe and fun Trick-or-Treating experience.

• Both clubs are also conducting community food drives with collection sites at SCCC, and several of the public schools in Newton as well as other locations within the county.

• All Red Cross volunteers must attend an orientation session.

• Youth Orientation: Sunday, November 14^th @ noon

Red Cross Clubs: Red Cross clubs are a team effort, with the Red Cross unit, the sponsoring organization (either a school or a community-based organization) and students all work together, enabling young people to make their community and the world a better place while developing leadership skills for today and the future. Clubs encompass activities from all lines of service.

Disaster Response
Young people are trained to become involved in many areas of Red Cross Disaster Services, including community disaster education, disaster preparation in their local community, and disaster response through Red Cross disaster action teams.

Leadership Development
Through club involvement, councils, and local boards as well as in leadership development camps or centers and on national Red Cross advisory and policy-making groups.

Health and Safety Services
In Red Cross babysitter training, first aid, CPR, aquatics, and water safety classes, young people are being educated about leading healthier, safer lives as well as being trained to serve as instructors, lifeguards, and peer educators.

Biomedical Services
Young adults, ages 16 and older, are eligible to donate blood. Red Cross youth volunteers help with blood drives by recruiting donors, arranging appointments, acting as escorts, and serving refreshments.

School-Related Activities
Fund raising, organizing blood drives, providing international assistance, and learning about such things as disaster preparedness and HIV/AIDS prevention and education.

International Services
Young people learn about other cultures by assembling Red Cross school chests and by learning about international humanitarian law and its implications worldwide.

Other Youth Opportunities
Young people are involved in other areas of the American Red Cross. There are opportunities that are related to school and college and Internships, as well as openings in Leadership Development and Community Services.

Service to the Armed Forces
Young people provide volunteer service to help thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected

Community Services
Mission related community activities can include cleaning up streets, planting trees, and organizing food drives. Young people may also serve as mentors to peers and younger youth on substance abuse prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, environmental awareness, violence prevention, and other major youth issues.

For inquiries on volunteer opportunities or starting a Red Cross Club at your school or with your community organization please contact Lauri Gill at lgill@sussexredcross.org

Measles Initiative - Measles is a leading cause of vaccine-preventable disease and kills an estimated 197,000 children each year, mostly in Africa and Asia.

However, largely thanks to the Measles Initiative, measles deaths have been reduced by 74% globally between 2000 and 2007. This reduction is even greater in Africa, where measles deaths have plunged by 89% in the same time period.

Through the efforts of the Measles Initiative, millions of children are getting the opportunity to have a healthier life.

It costs less than $1 to vaccinate a child against measles.

The Measles Initiative is led by the American Red Cross and its partners—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, UN Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO). The Initiative provides technical and financial support to governments and communities on mass vaccination campaigns, routine immunization and disease surveillance.

Anyone interested in supporting the Measles Initiative can make a donation to the: Measles Initiative, c/o Sussex County Chapter of the American Red Cross, 93 Spring Street, Suite 101, Newton NJ 07860.

Those interested in hosting a Measles Initiative Fundraiser can contact Youth Services Coordinator Lauri Gill at lgill@sussexredcross.org or 973-579-1600.

The Measles Initiative Art Contest

All submissions for the Art Contest must be accompanied by a Participant Agreement.

Theme:  The Measles Initiative – celebrating a child’s best shot at a healthy life.

Requirements: We will be accepting individual works of art in the form of painting, pencil or crayon drawing, graphic art or photography. All artwork must be the contestant's original work, has not been previously published, and does not contain any trademarks, logos, copyrighted material, or any other intellectual property belonging to any third party. All artwork must be 8.5" x 11" without a mat, frame, cover sheet, or border. No lettering, signatures, or initials may appear on the front of the design. Any artwork with such identifying characteristics will be disqualified and eliminated from the competition.

Participants: The art contest is open to children in grades K through twelve attending public, private, or home-schools in the United States and young adults (18-24 years of age) currently enrolled in University. Only one entry per participant will be accepted.

Judging: There will be four categories of participants for judging purposes; elementary school, middle school, high school and college. Entries will be judged based on creativity, originality and representation of the contest theme.

Deadline: By 4:30pm on November 9th.

All entries must be received at local Red Cross Headquarters:

Sussex County Chapter of the American Red Cross
93 Spring Street, Suite 101
Newton, NJ 07860

And MUST include a signed participant agreement