Sauk Valley Community College to host blood drive June 30
The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Dillon Mall on the college's Dixon campus at 173 state Route 2.
The drive, sponsored by the SVCC Student Activities and Student Government Association, invites students, faculty, staff and the community to help save lives through blood donation.
Donors are encouraged to bring a photo ID, eat a healthy meal and drink plenty of water before donating. The donation process typically takes about an hour, and all donors will receive a $15 e-gift card.
Although walk-ins are welcome, organizers recommend scheduling an appointment in advance as spots tend to fill quickly. Appointments can be made by visiting redcrossblood.org or by calling 815-835-6432.
To streamline the process, participants can save time by using RapidPass, which allows donors to complete pre-donation reading and health history questions online. For more information, visit redcrossblood.org/RapidPass.
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How you can cope — or help others — when disasters strike
At least 135 people, including 37 children, died in the Texas floods over the July 4 holiday weekend. All told, the US sustained 403 weather and climate disasters from 1980–2024, where overall damages and costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. And in the first half of 2025, we experienced 15 separate billion-dollar weather disasters, including tornadoes, hail, wind, and flash flooding from severe thunderstorms. Learn more: How much does flood insurance cost in every state? Earl Johnson wrote a new book about how to cope when those disasters hit home: Finding Comfort During Hard Times: A Guide to Healing after Disaster, Violence, and Other Community Trauma. At the American Red Cross national headquarters, Johnson's responsibilities included preparedness and response to every domestic mass fatality incident since the weeks after 9/11, including transportation incidents, natural disasters, and criminal acts. Here are edited excerpts of our conversation: Kerry Hannon: What was the experience of aiding in a disaster that made this work become your mission? Earl Johnson: 9/11 changed everybody's lives. I moved from lower Manhattan to Arlington, Va., on Sept. 9, 2001. I was in the backyard, and I heard the plane hit the Pentagon. I had training as a hospital chaplain and it kicked in. All of my skills and everything were transferable to a disaster. Hurricane Katrina was my other seminal event. I was with the Red Cross, and we were tasked to open a thousand shelters for a thousand people each in the next 24 hours. It wasn't just a Red Cross response. It wasn't just a federal response. It was everybody, all hands on deck. And we were a team. With the Texas Hill country flooding disaster on our minds, what's the best action for someone to take if you want to give, but you can't be there in person? The temptation for many people is to drop everything and go help the victims. And that's the wrong thing to do unless you have specialized training and also an invitation to go with an official group. The best thing you can do, if you can afford it, is to contribute — give money, but don't give stuff. A lot of times that will just inundate a community. The best thing is to stay, pray, and pay. If you have a specific charity, great. Many people contribute to a faith-based charity or the American Red Cross or Salvation Army. Donations do make a difference, and you are doing something. Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Is this something that you recommend for those who might be retired and have time to volunteer on-site? Yes. But don't wait until the disaster happens. Get your disaster training because there are unique aspects of disasters, and you need to be trained for a specific function whether it be shelter management or mass care feeding. Retirees offer a pool of expertise. How would someone get that training? Well, I'm prejudiced. I love the Red Cross. I spent 10 years responding to disasters with them. They have an excellent volunteer program and training. Why is it so important for everyone to have some sort of a disaster plan in place for their community, home, and business? We never know when there is going to be a catastrophic event. But we have to go on living, and we have to live fully and freely without that kind of anxiety. Making a disaster plan is not only good business, it's also common sense — because that's another way of not only taking care of yourself and your family, it's also taking care of your customers and your business. For example, you should have a "go bag" of things to take with you with a flashlight and solar radio, for example. Build a rainy day emergency fund. Have a disaster communications plan in case there's a blackout or the landlines go down. You write in your book about being on the alert for entrepreneurs and predators and other people coming into a community under the guise of offering help. How do we guard ourselves from being taken advantage of? It's the second wave of the disaster. Good, kindhearted people respond, but also entrepreneurs and predators who want to take advantage of the vulnerable. Do a background check. Check with a local Better Business Bureau, the police department, the Red Cross, local media, and others in your community to find out if they have heard of this group, or were aware that this group has descended upon the community and are going door-to- door offering roof repairs or whatever. A lot of people get victimized because they're already vulnerable, because the emotional and spiritual aspects of disasters are so traumatic. If you are in the disaster zone, you already are vulnerable and you want help and you want assistance. Don't sign anything until they have been checked out. What's the first thing to ask yourself before you head off to a disaster zone to lend a hand? You can't imagine how many people drop everything, get in their car with a couple bags of ice and a couple dozen sandwiches, and drive a thousand miles to help. When I am screening potential volunteers, I would always ask them why they want to respond, so stop and first ask yourself that question. Who's going to take care of your family and pets if you are gone? Do you have two to three weeks that you can donate? You also need to be willing to be managed. You can't be the big hotshot coming down to do your part. You need to take about small disasters? Unemployment can be a disaster for people. Elaborate. There are thousands of everyday disasters. There are house fires, divorce, homelessness, mental health issues, and yes, unemployment. Nothing is more violent and traumatic than unemployment. One day your identity as your job or your vocation that you've contributed so much to is gone. You need to start with considering what gives you hope. What is your source of hope and meaning? Make a fearless personal assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Take that personal inventory, especially because you're devastated when you lose your job. You have to say, wait a minute, I was employed. I have skills, I have learning, and it does have value, and I have made a difference. Talk to people and go deeper and ask them what are the good things they notice about you? What are the things they see that you do well? What's your biggest takeaway from the book for readers? Comfort is essential. Preparedness is caring and taking care of one another. It is a huge gift not only to come in and help people to rebuild their home, but also to be a good neighbor and to be a good listener. You may not have physical things that people need, but you have a good ear, and you can support one another. Disasters are not only physical. They're also emotional and spiritual. For more information on how you can help, check out the Red Cross and FEMA sites. Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How you can cope — or help others — when disasters strike
At least 135 people, including 37 children, died in the Texas floods over the July 4 holiday weekend. All told, the US sustained 403 weather and climate disasters from 1980–2024, where overall damages and costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. And in the first half of 2025, we experienced 15 separate billion-dollar weather disasters, including tornadoes, hail, wind, and flash flooding from severe thunderstorms. Learn more: How much does flood insurance cost in every state? Earl Johnson wrote a new book about how to cope when those disasters hit home: Finding Comfort During Hard Times: A Guide to Healing after Disaster, Violence, and Other Community Trauma. At the American Red Cross national headquarters, Johnson's responsibilities included preparedness and response to every domestic mass fatality incident since the weeks after 9/11, including transportation incidents, natural disasters, and criminal acts. Here are edited excerpts of our conversation: Kerry Hannon: What was the experience of aiding in a disaster that made this work become your mission? Earl Johnson: 9/11 changed everybody's lives. I moved from lower Manhattan to Arlington, Va., on Sept. 9, 2001. I was in the backyard, and I heard the plane hit the Pentagon. I had training as a hospital chaplain and it kicked in. All of my skills and everything were transferable to a disaster. Hurricane Katrina was my other seminal event. I was with the Red Cross, and we were tasked to open a thousand shelters for a thousand people each in the next 24 hours. It wasn't just a Red Cross response. It wasn't just a federal response. It was everybody, all hands on deck. And we were a team. With the Texas Hill country flooding disaster on our minds, what's the best action for someone to take if you want to give, but you can't be there in person? The temptation for many people is to drop everything and go help the victims. And that's the wrong thing to do unless you have specialized training and also an invitation to go with an official group. The best thing you can do, if you can afford it, is to contribute — give money, but don't give stuff. A lot of times that will just inundate a community. The best thing is to stay, pray, and pay. If you have a specific charity, great. Many people contribute to a faith-based charity or the American Red Cross or Salvation Army. Donations do make a difference, and you are doing something. Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Is this something that you recommend for those who might be retired and have time to volunteer on-site? Yes. But don't wait until the disaster happens. Get your disaster training because there are unique aspects of disasters, and you need to be trained for a specific function whether it be shelter management or mass care feeding. Retirees offer a pool of expertise. How would someone get that training? Well, I'm prejudiced. I love the Red Cross. I spent 10 years responding to disasters with them. They have an excellent volunteer program and training. Why is it so important for everyone to have some sort of a disaster plan in place for their community, home, and business? We never know when there is going to be a catastrophic event. But we have to go on living, and we have to live fully and freely without that kind of anxiety. Making a disaster plan is not only good business, it's also common sense — because that's another way of not only taking care of yourself and your family, it's also taking care of your customers and your business. For example, you should have a "go bag" of things to take with you with a flashlight and solar radio, for example. Build a rainy day emergency fund. Have a disaster communications plan in case there's a blackout or the landlines go down. You write in your book about being on the alert for entrepreneurs and predators and other people coming into a community under the guise of offering help. How do we guard ourselves from being taken advantage of? It's the second wave of the disaster. Good, kindhearted people respond, but also entrepreneurs and predators who want to take advantage of the vulnerable. Do a background check. Check with a local Better Business Bureau, the police department, the Red Cross, local media, and others in your community to find out if they have heard of this group, or were aware that this group has descended upon the community and are going door-to- door offering roof repairs or whatever. A lot of people get victimized because they're already vulnerable, because the emotional and spiritual aspects of disasters are so traumatic. If you are in the disaster zone, you already are vulnerable and you want help and you want assistance. Don't sign anything until they have been checked out. What's the first thing to ask yourself before you head off to a disaster zone to lend a hand? You can't imagine how many people drop everything, get in their car with a couple bags of ice and a couple dozen sandwiches, and drive a thousand miles to help. When I am screening potential volunteers, I would always ask them why they want to respond, so stop and first ask yourself that question. Who's going to take care of your family and pets if you are gone? Do you have two to three weeks that you can donate? You also need to be willing to be managed. You can't be the big hotshot coming down to do your part. You need to take about small disasters? Unemployment can be a disaster for people. Elaborate. There are thousands of everyday disasters. There are house fires, divorce, homelessness, mental health issues, and yes, unemployment. Nothing is more violent and traumatic than unemployment. One day your identity as your job or your vocation that you've contributed so much to is gone. You need to start with considering what gives you hope. What is your source of hope and meaning? Make a fearless personal assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Take that personal inventory, especially because you're devastated when you lose your job. You have to say, wait a minute, I was employed. I have skills, I have learning, and it does have value, and I have made a difference. Talk to people and go deeper and ask them what are the good things they notice about you? What are the things they see that you do well? What's your biggest takeaway from the book for readers? Comfort is essential. Preparedness is caring and taking care of one another. It is a huge gift not only to come in and help people to rebuild their home, but also to be a good neighbor and to be a good listener. You may not have physical things that people need, but you have a good ear, and you can support one another. Disasters are not only physical. They're also emotional and spiritual. For more information on how you can help, check out the Red Cross and FEMA sites. Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Chicago Tribune
19-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Key to survival and fun in Lake Michigan's surf is knowledge, training
For water safety proponent Mary Ann Best, preaching a fear of Lake Michigan is the wrong approach. 'Instead of telling everybody how deadly the lake is and to be afraid, we want people to handle themselves in the water safely, enjoy water sports and to be able to save themselves,' she said. Best grew up in Gary's Miller neighborhood along Lake Michigan's shores and has become an accomplished open water swimmer and safety supporter. She recently established a nonprofit called the Blue Flow Great Lakes Corp., which is aimed at encouraging a culture of being in and on the water safely. Wednesday's youth clinic that ended under a dark, threatening sky, drew 15 youngsters to Wells Street beach in Miller. Nine instructors took the kids, ages 6 to 15, into the lake on paddle and rescue boards to educate and teach life skills for interacting on the Great Lakes. As they headed out into the water, Jose Serrano, EMS training chief for the Gary Fire Department, watched from an ATV on the shore, while firefighter Logan McCormick sat on a jet ski just north of the students. Both are GFD water rescue team members. 'We support this class, that's why we're here,' said Serrano. 'People need to be safe and cognizant of what they do. Lake Michigan is very dangerous, and people take it for granted.' Best, who still lives in Miller, modeled her program after 'Little Nippers,' a popular Queensland, Australia youth search and lifesaving program. 'It's one of the best in the world,' said Best. 'I emailed them a year ago and asked them to work with me to start a program here.' More emails and Zoom meetings followed and Best received a book from Little Nippers about water safety for kids. Best and her daughter are revising the book, tailoring it to the Great Lakes. It will be ready for print by the end of the month. So far, Best said Blue Flow Great Lakes is the lone program in Northwest Indiana. She said there's a similar junior lifeguard program in New Buffalo, Michigan. Best also hopes the program increases the pipeline of beach lifeguards on open water who need different skills than American Red Cross-trained pool lifeguards. The kids in the clinic are introduced to lifeguarding and rescue and survival techniques. 'We get them used to swimming in all conditions and teach them the skills to be able to analyze the lake and figure out when it's not a good day to go in,' Best said. The next youth clinic on July 30 is already full. Junior program leaders also are taking on a teaching role. 'When youths teach other kids, they learn so much more themselves,' Best said. Logan Dudzik, 11, who lives in Miller, said she's at the beach nearly every day and took a previous class. 'I wanted to get better in the water and be safe. On a paddleboard, you have to get level with the wind,' she said. Mariah Smith, 14, of Gary, took part for the first time. 'It was such an experience. I'm a dedicated person and I kept falling off,' she said of her paddleboard trial. 'Next time, I will be more able. Paddling is my favorite.' Her mom, Jamika Smith, said she learned of the clinic from a friend. She said her daughter loves nature, water and the beach. 'It would be good for her to learn the tricks of the trade. She can swim a little, but I want her to be more comfortable.' Holli Divich, of LaPorte, brought 12-year-old daughter Lyric to the clinic. 'I just think it's good to learn about water safety and to be safe around water,' she said. Instructors Ty Simic and Juliet Schmidt, both of Gary, shared an incident with the class that happened to them July 12 while they were on the lake in a Hobie Cat catamaran sailboat. A strong wind broke its mast and it fell into the water, leaving them adrift. 'We would go where the wind takes us,' Simic said. He rigged another sail on the boom and a friend saw them struggling and called for help. Quickly, a Gary fire rescue crew arrived just as the couple made it back to shore. 'Call someone, let them know,' said Simic, grateful for the rescue workers. Best said both Simic and Schmidt wore life jackets and both are good swimmers. Simic was prepared and had tools on the boat. Blue Flow Great Lakes is also doing pop-up clinics at West Beach in the Indiana Dunes National Park every two weeks. 'Anybody on the beach can sign up for a two-hour session with us… We just walk around and let people know what we're doing and they sign up,' Best said. All of the clinics are free. Besides assistance from the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant agency, the Miller Community Fund also supports Blue Flow Great Lakes, Best said. Other sponsors include Wells Street Beach and Just Passing Through, a locally-owned business. Next month, all the participants are invited back to Wells Street beach for a competition including a half-mile swim and a one-mile paddle. Best has been invited to share information on Blue Flow in South Haven and Empire, Michigan. 'Our goal is to get it going locally and be able to provide the outline for others to get it started,' she said. Best said she learned water safety as she grew up by the lake. Recently, she swam the 5-mile length of the Mackinac Island bridge and swam 8.2 miles around Mackinac Island. She also took part in the Friends of Marquette Park's effort last year to stock the park with 20 loaner life jackets and lifesaving rings. Her hope is for more beachgoers to be knowledgeable about the water currents, waves and conditions. 'Nobody knows how to act on a wavy day and the more people who are competent, the safer it is.' For more information, contact Blueflowgreatlakes@
