Back from Deployment 691-26. American Red Cross -- Milwaukee Flood

As I joined my normal coffee group upon returning the entire table said -- "so, tell us about it."

And it is almost never possible to explain all the things that make these deployments one of the most satisfying activities I have engaged in over my career. And when I tell a story about mopping up someone's vomit or having to call 9-1-1 for a person having a health crisis it just does not sound like "fun" of fulfilment, yet the whole is definitely when you add in all the parts.  So, if you read anything that piques your interest I hope you will call 600-RedCross and ask what it takes to being the volunteer process. And when you do, know that people who volunteer to man the shelters or provide the feeding are the unsung heros of the disaster recovery. 

My job on this deployment was as Night Shift Supervisor - 7 pm to 7 am.  I think our team got to the shelter each day by 6, and some days earlier.  We were always anxious to hear about how their day passed and what issues we might want to look out for overnight.  Those shift hand offs were always valuable.

For purposes of making long stories short in this blog I will just bullet point some thing I saw and some of the amazing givers who made the things happen. Know that when you have a shelter situation with nearly 50 residents the number of little things and big things quickly seem to become the regular daily living.

• There was a new mother with a month-old daughter in the shelter.  Several of the shelter workers would spend some time helping to hold and rock the small new person to give her mother breaks through the day. 
• At the end of lunch and at the end of dinner the feeding guys woul ensure they packed up some meals for those people we knew were working and would not be getting back to the shelter until late.  And those same feeding guys were plating meals that came from a local university for residents who were in the shelter. 
• We had a multi-stall portable shower that was turned on twice each day for a couple of hours each time.  And these showers were a much appreciated perk, since it had taken a few days after the flood disaster for those showers to get to the shelter.  And, a one of the jobs done several times a day was ensuring those showers were clean.
• And you could set your apple watch by the seven year old who came out to the front every night asking if it was "nak" time yet.  His timing was nearly spot on.  
• As days progressed and the shelter experience began wearing down residents they were often bolstered when the Shelter Resident team was able to tell them they had a strong possiblity of a new place to live that they would be able to check out.
• And at other times the lift would come from shelter workers, feeding workers. health service workers or other Red Crossers who came in having one-to-one conversations -- sometimes on crucial subjects but more often on how they were doing, what they were hoping -- you know, the same kinds of things you might discuss over your coffee shop coffee.
• a major role of the shelter workers and what makes them among the heros of the disaster relief operation is that help establish a normalcy that gives a feeling of security and HOPE.

This post is probably already too long but for the next one, I want to discuss how interesting those who are the volunteers make this experience so valuable for their colleagues in our two weeks or longer together on the DRO committment.

Rememb er 1-800-RedCross or send me an email at dpuffer@gmail.com and I will help you get started on the volunteer process.  It is so amazing to know that you can make even a little difference when somone is at one of the lowest points of their life.

What follows is the message to volunteers from the last director of the operation so you can have a sense of the appreciation the Red Cross does have for its volunteer work force.

This is the final note to volunteers from the Incident Action Plan -- 

Director's Intent/Message

 Hello Team, For the last two weeks I have had the honor and privilege to be your job director on this operation.

I have not only seen but have heard about the tremendous collaboration between the local volunteers and deployed staff. When this disaster happened the local and regional volunteers and staff answered the call and took care of our clients.

Thanks to everyone’s tremendous efforts we provided 1,500 shelter stays, delivered almost 4,000 meals, and 8,600 snacks. DES gave out 3,000 cleanup kits and nearly 16,000 other items.

 Thank you is a short little statement; however, it conveys so much. To those that toiled in their backyard. To those that travelled from afar. To our virtual teammates, who were an indispensable force multiplier. Thank you! To all of you.

 Please get some rest and enjoy some time off with your family and friends. We will see you on the next one. For there will always be, the next one.

 Mike Green Job Director 

Mission first, Service above Self

 Trees for Tomorrow Helps Hartsville Stay A Tree City 

Planning, Planting, Pruning, Removing and Resourcing 

Since Donna Tucker got her husband, Howard, to take her place on the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee more than 35 years ago, he estimates he has been involved in the planting of more than 3,000 trees, the pruning of countless and the removal of hundreds more around our city. 

Urban trees quickly became a hobby if not an obsession for Howard. He pursued this hobby while maintaining his optometry practice 

(1963-2005). Howard continues to care for

our trees and to work closely with the city 

arborist, Steven Wild and his crews. 

Hartsville trees have been a life’s work for 

Howard and many of his friends, as well 

as many city employees as our town 

works to retain its Tree City designation. 

The beauty of our downtown owes much 

to the serious planning, intentional 

planting, continuous pruning, judicious 

removing and restoring, and continuous 

work finding the resources. 

Howard has story after story about the 

hard work citizens have taken over the 

years to care for our green city.. Some 

people reading this may remember Frank 

Prehoda going up and down Hartsville 

streets with his assistant Becky Geise 

using various watering inventions to keep 

Hartsville trees alive and thriving in the 

deep hot days of South Carolina 

summers. 

Howard, who likes the planning, 

pruning,and resources side says that 

Frank was a one-man watering squad for 

more than 25 years.They had help from 

other volunteers and many of those names

show up in the minutes of the Environmental Committee and Trees for Tomorrow Committee, which was originally proposed to the Hartsville Chamber by Joe and Betty Wiggins. 

PRIDE OF PLACE 

If you engage Howard about the why of trees he will probably reply with a question: "Don't you think the city looks good because of our attention to the trees?" Howard believes that trees are one sign of the pride a community has in its environment. He is a strong believer that people should take care of their property and the community property they use. (He hates littering!) 

Howard, who happens to be 88, has been hooked on the idea of taking care of your space for pretty much his entire life beginning in his Monroe, NC, childhood. Little makes him more angry than intentional disregard for our environment from discarded trash to long-empty falling down, 

burned out buildings. Every morning on his daily multi-mile walk around sidewalks and streets of his expanded Laurel Oak neighborhood you can see him picking up trash that someone tossed. He will tell you he does not have any understanding of why people justify dropping their trash where they are. He remembers his neighbors in Monroe (many of whom had few luxuries) having major pride of place. And he often longs for those good old days. 

Howard does his part daily. 

TREES MAKE THINGS COOL AND BEAUTIFUL 

Trees are part of this philosophy and likely the most obvious because trees distinguish a street, a campus, a downtown, a retail environment, even Mega-store parking lots. Hartsville had a major push in the mid to late 1980s to get the community's focus on creating a healthy tree environment. In 1987 those efforts were realized with Hartsville’s first Tree City designation. 

Howard Tucker has kept a personal focus on trees around Hartsville. He worked to move the Trees for Tomorrow fund raising arm of the Chamber committee to an independent non profit organization to help develop continuing resources for the planting and managing of trees. He has built relationships with all the city managers, and the city workers who work on trees and the city's professional arborist to continue focused discussions on where the needs are and how 

they might be addressed. Howard plays a unique role in this situation as his major platform is that he is a concerned citizen who is willing to put in the time to help make things happen. 

And as a citizen, his tree-focused vision can encompass ideas for city projects,retail operations, church appeal and even advice for people looking to improve their home landscapes. 

HARTSVILLE NEEDS THE ATTENTION TO TREES 

Howard has kept his attention on the trees. Now, who are some of the others living in our community who love the environment, understand the importance of planned shade, the continuous need for the upkeep of living beauty, who will step up to fill the shoes of those who have set this standard of community excellence?

IT'S HARTSVILLE. And it is HOT!

 The weather app says the current temperature is 94 degrees and we can expect sunny conditions the rest of the day.  I did leave the window down because the last time I jumped in the Avalon the dashboard temperature said inside it was 110.  Today is June 1.  I guess we expect that this is the way it is supposed to be.  

So, the temperature is not really news but there are lots of things happening that sort of qualify as news in our town.  For example, did you know that if you live in the city limits the holiday moved your trash collection back a day.  If you generally have your trash picked up on Tuesday it should have been picked up today.  That is noted here because there has been some rumbling by people who think the city messed up -- THEY DID NOT.  

Because the Pandemic has been with us so long there are lots of things that are happening that seem to come under the category "normal/not normal."  The Darlington County School District is continuing the summer feeding program this year.

For the next comment, I am out of my depth but we still have to think about it even if I am not the person to lead the discussion -- 

Children across our country, heck people across our country are feeling less secure than many people can ever remember.  Adults need to, I think, do some stepping out and reaching out to children to sometimes blatantly ask and other times covertly ask if things are okay or if there is something you can do.  And, I do not care what you believe about guns if they are in the hands of children they should not be in their hands.  We have problems in our community with groups of young people thinking it is acceptable to target others with their firearms.  This is not a new normal that we can live with.  Kids being kids, few of them are carrying weapons without others knowing.  Right now it is not a question of do you have a right to carry -- but it is a question of SHOULD you?  NO. Adults have to step up even more now -- because we can see the problem.  Adults in this community can look out for others by giving some direction.  

This blog about community thinking is generally a pollyanna blog about all the great things happening in our community  -- like, did you know that today was CHALK day at the Hartsville Memorial Library.  

I hope all of stories can cover the fun things and the interesting things and I hope we can avoid the catastrophic things are are unfortunately all too common around our world today.

Author of the blog is Richard Puffer, dpuffer@gmail.com

So How Was the Holiday Weekend in Hartsville, South Carolina?

 One of the big news items over the weekend for this community focused on the Hartsville High School Boys Baseball Team.  They were in the State Championship playing Eastside of Greenville in the second of a best-of-three series.  They had been killed in the first game.

The second game started badly for the Foxes but they pitched and hit their way back making up a large deficit and taking a 9-8 lead before giving up two runs at the end of the game to lose the Championship series 10-9.  It was an amazing comeback for that team and will give them stories they will still be telling grand children 50 or more years from now. 

As sort of a side light on the baseball game, the Hartsville High graduation was held last Friday morning with about 240 students getting their high school diploma.  The valedictory speech was given by Braden Mays who also happens to be the starting catcher on the 2022 Red Fox Baseball team.  His talk focused on the lessons he learned from his playmates during this past amazing season.  I think he is heading to Clemson for his college experience.  

And the end of last week was a big time for the graduating seniors at other schools in Darlington County. The Governors's School of South Carolina, located in Hartsville; at Mayo High School a magnet school in Darlington County, at Lamar High School and at Darlington High School all said good bye to their seniors.  Think about it, our community has just graduated more than 600 children beginning to look for their productive place in our world.  That by itself is exciting!

One of the big things happening in Hartsville over the Memorial Day weekend was the opening of NEPTUNE ISLAND, our city-owned-managed Water Park that is a visitor magnet. Driving past the Park on Saturday, Sunday and Monday it appeared full of visitors.  The mostly blue skies with occasional fluffy clouds made for a pretty perfect water park weekend.

Neptune Island is a fun-in-the-sun kind of place with water amusements including some real high water slides and toddler friendly splash pad places that seem ready to delight nine months to 15 years.  Those older can really enjoy the complete freedom of just sort of roasting in the sun or renting a cabana and finding a way to just enjoy sights and sound of people having a good time.

Driving around on Monday Suga Rush had a customers in their new summer hours and there were also customers out at the tables at the Sweet Shop on College Avenue. This note about these two businesses that supply lots of sweets and in particular ice cream is important because not long ago it was not easy to find ice cream dipping in our City.  Hope you all are getting your cones, your milk shakes and other sweet treats -- they add another cool option for us in this small town.

 Generally it appeared fairly quiet on Monday afternoon as many of the busy restaurants opted to give their employees some downtime for the holiday weekend. 

Hartsville is rapidly moving into Summer mode -- It would be interesting to hear some of the activities you are looking forward to in and around our community.

Byerly Foundation Searching for Associate Executive Director

 

The Board of Trustees of The Byerly Foundation of Hartsville has begun a search for a new staff member who will come on board to work with the Executive Director and Board to help continue building The Foundation's effectiveness as a leader partner in the positive growth of  greater Hartsville community.

Anyone with any questions about this job search may feel free to call The Byerly Foundation at 843-383-2400.

I recently was given the opportunity to write a little about the innovation that we enjoy in Hartsville, South Carolina for the Department of Commerce blog called Scribble. Thought it might be a good idea to share in this Community Thinking blog.

.https://scribblesc.com/blog/innovation-in-hartsville-in-good-times-and-bad

We are in the midst or at least inside this pandemic and graduations at both the college and high school level are being canceled.  Back in 2017 Coker, where I had worked full time as a professor for 16 years, gave me the privilege of making the Graduation Speech to the Class of 2017 -- a year after I had retired.  That invitation was the greatest highlight of my professional career.  (There is also a major incident story to go along with that speech but for the purposes of this blog, I am going to share the speech.)  The goals of this talk were to welcome the graduating seniors to the brave new world beyond the college bubble and to show them evidence that they were beginning to write their own stories by highlighting the stories of some Coker students whom I had known who doing interesting, constructive things to create their own lives and their own communities.  After my daughter Inga helped me focus my thinking, the hardest part was having to take out so many stories so I could stay in the time limit.  Based on what the graduating class is facing in today's world, I thought I would share this talk for the Class of 2020:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ndte6dN0hA0fVp_z7LfP1kPegZYd4DAc/view?usp=sharing

Keeping connected in our community with Zoom and with people who care

One of the roles that has long been part of The Byerly Foundation in the greater Hartsville community is that of connector.  During the current COVID pandemic crisis the Foundation has been playing that role as the host of a weekly Zoom call bringing together lots of organizations and individuals who are working to mitigate as much as possible the negative impacts from this extended "thing."

The first call list came from people who had made themselves or their organizations known for having a place in the pandemic people solution. Then, those who were on the initial call were asked to identify others whose work would benefit from being connected. Then they were invited. The value of such a call is the connection!

Joe Bittle, who does a great deal of connecting work as part of his community role with Health South mentioned a couple of weeks ago efforts by Care South to establish COVID testing sites. The first of those testing sites opened today (5-5-20) in Society Hill. Care South is working with DHEC and this was the email Joe forwarded to help get the word out:

Hi Joe and Nicole,

Please sent this flyer and information out to the Darlington County Coordinating Council. Thanks, Suzette

COVID-19 Mobile Clinic in Society Hill- Tuesday, May 5, 2020

SCDHEC-Pee Dee Region and CareSouth Carolina are hosting a free COVID-19 Mobile Testing Clinic on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.  The clinic will be held at the St. David's Academy, 116 St. David's Street, Sociey Hill, SC  29593, from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

Please invite all to come and get screened and tested for free.  See attached flyer. 

 C. Suzette McClellan, MPH, MCHES

Community Systems Director
S.C. Dept. of Health & Environmental Control

Pee Dee Region

105 N. Magnolia Street, Sumter, SC 29150
Office: (803) 934-2878
Mobile: (803) 983-9092

Fax: (803) 773-6366

We expect to hear a little more about the turn out at the testing site during this afternoon's phone call, which will be at 3 p.m. as it has been every Tuesday for the past several weeks.

Connection is crucial as it leads to Cooperation, which is how things get accomplished and problems get handled and most importantly people get helped!