Tag Archives: Partners

Hero Among Us: Vacaville Volunteer Firefighter Receives Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action 

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Vincent Hayes, a 20-year-old Vacaville volunteer firefighter, with his CEPA

20-year-old Vincent Hayes, a Vacaville volunteer firefighter, was presented with the Certificate of Extraordinary Personal Action (CEPA) by the American Red Cross on November 18 for his heroic actions of saving a man’s life while at “The Happiest Place on Earth” in early August of this year. 

As Vincent and his girlfriend boarded the Disneyland Railroad 30 minutes before midnight, there was a commotion that caught his attention. Another couple adjacent to the ride was laying a man down on the floor after asking if “he was ok”. 

Vincent instantly took action, hopped off the slow-moving train and ran towards the couple and the man who wasn’t ok. Once on the ground, he assessed the situation and checked for the man’s pulse. He was apneic, not breathing while unconscious, and pulseless. 

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Community Adaptation Program Celebrates One Year in Monterey County

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The Community Adaptation Program team together at the 2025 American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region Gala. Pictured are Lucy Rojas (left), Gabriela Perez Albarracin (middle) and Maria Magaña (right).

By Mark Phillips, Board Member Central Coast Chapter

The American Red Cross Community Adaptation Program (CAP) is an initiative to enhance the ability of local and hyper-local organizations to provide services during disasters. The Red Cross leverages its expertise, partnerships and network to level up the impact of the grassroots organizations that know their communities best. By building the capability, capacity and continuity of these groups during blue sky periods, they are better able to provide vital services during trying times.

CAP came to Monterey County in July of 2024, when Gabriela Perez Albarracin joined the area from the Lake County, California. Under her leadership, the first year of CAP activity in Monterey County has had a number of successes and laid the groundwork for an impactful year two.

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Sound The Alarm:  502 Homes Made Safer Thanks to Red Cross Volunteers, Local Fire Departments and Community Partners

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1,357 smoke alarms installed throughout the Northern California Coastal Region in this spring

The American Red Cross responds to home fires more than any other disaster nationwide, so home fire prevention is something we take seriously. For that reason, Red Cross members, along with local fire departments and community partners, to install 1,357 free smoke alarms in 502 homes, making 1,472 residents safer from homes fires during our 2025 Sound the Alarm campaign. From April 26 – May 23, communities in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Merced, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were made safer thanks to free smoke alarms and home fire prevention education.

Sound the Alarm events are a critical part of the national Red Cross Home Fire Campaign which aims to reduce the number of deaths from home fires. The Home Fire Campaign has helped save 2,320 lives since its launch in October 2014 due to working smoke alarms in homes. Nationwide, volunteers and local fire departments visit neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms and share home fire prevention information with residents, including home fire escape plans. Here in the Northern California Coastal Region, volunteers and partners have installed more than 55,300 free smoke alarms and made more than 20,000 households safer since 2014, saving 32 lives reported in the Greater Bay Area.

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A Salute for Your Service: Our Partnership with David Grant Medical Center

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American Red Cross volunteers provide warm human interactions at the David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base. This includes greeting patients and visitors at the front desk, answering phones, and providing directions.

In the white, sterile halls of a hospital – any hospital, let alone one on a military base – you might expect to find expert medical care. But thanks to the American Red Cross, at the David Grant Medical Center (DGMC) on Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, you’ll also find bright, cheery and helpful volunteers.

The Red Cross has a special partnership with the medical center where teens and other volunteers “are able to augment the hospital experience for patients, providing warm human interaction while allowing hospital staff to focus primarily on their medical duties,” says Nikki Rowe, Red Cross director of Service to the Armed Forces and International Services for the Northern California Coastal Region. Nikki has been managing the relationship with the DGMC for several years as part of her responsibilities.

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Health, Hunger and Housing: How the Red Cross partners with local non-profits to support high risk communities in Central Coast

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From left to right: Maria, Gabriela, and Lucy are leading the new CAP chapter in Monterey. Photo Courtesy of CAP team.

When natural disasters sweep across regions repeatedly, it takes a lot of strength and resilience from communities to rebuild their lives. For some folks, it can take a greater effort to reestablish a sense of normalcy due to the lack of resources in the area or their socioeconomic conditions. The Community Adaptation Program (CAP) is a recent initiative by the American Red Cross designed to bring relief to regions that experience high risk of disasters through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations. One of the newest additions to the CAP’s locations across the country was just established in Monterey County, California.

CAP focuses on addressing three key areas through its initiatives: health, hunger and housing. Each CAP team is composed of a manager and two coordinators who work together to foster and sustain the connection between the Red Cross and local partners. The community of Pajaro in Monterey was a strong contender for needing these services due to reoccurring natural disasters that devasted the area. the area.

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Deloitte Brainstorms Business Solutions for the Red Cross during its Impact Day

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Photo courtesy of Deloitte

By Alex Keilty

Many Bay Area organizations are making community service part of their annual plan by giving staff paid time to volunteer or organizing events that benefit a cause close to their employees’ hearts.

Deloitte, a professional services organization and longtime supporter of the American Red Cross, hosts an annual in-house “Impact Day”. Impact Day is Deloitte’s national annual day of service in the US, an opportunity for professionals to come together and engage in social impact efforts that reflect Deloitte’s purpose commitments to help create positive change for ourselves, each other and our community, and—together—drive progress toward a more equitable and sustainable future for all.

On Friday June 7th, Deloitte professionals, nonprofit relationships, and communities connected in over 1,200 social impact projects across more than 100 US cities to drive social and economic prosperity in the communities where they live and work. This year’s Impact Day took a unique approach when Deloitte’s local staff was asked to troubleshoot a real issue: the difficulty of recruiting and retaining volunteers to transport donated blood to hospitals in the San Francisco area.

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