On June 30th, 2017, nearly 300 Red Cross employees, board members, volunteers, friends, and community partners gathered at the California Endowment in Downtown Los Angeles for the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. During the meeting, Director of Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity for The Walt Disney Company, Andrea Davis, was re-elected for an additional one year term as Regional Board Chair. Plus, this year, attendees were treated to a look into the future, the Next 100 Years of Red Cross Services in L.A., and enjoyed highlights from volunteer members of the Digital Street Team, insights on how to embrace technology, with Guest Speaker, Ryan Patel, as well as a very inspiring Keynote Address from Senior Vice President of Disaster Cycle Services, Harvey Johnson.

The annual business of the board was also conducted with Luigi Gratton, Meloni Hallock, Patricia Hamrick, Tomoko Nagashima, and Jeff Sakaguchi each being elected for an additional three-year term.

In all, seven new board members were welcomed for their first term, including: Andy Carrasco, Judy Beck, Jamey Edwards, Angela Evans, Adam Feit, Jay Hong, and Tom Schwaninger.

Along with Andrea Davis being re-elected as Chair, the following individuals were elected to serve as Regional Board Officers, as Vice-Chair’s, for an additional one year term:  David Allen, Bruce Daly, and Scott Olmsted.

Additionally, Samantha Yin was re-instated as Youth Board Member for an additional one year of service, and Meloni Hallock and Kirk Hyde were recognized for their 20 and 25 years of service with the Regional Board, respectively.

As has become customary at the Los Angeles Region Annual Meeting, employees and volunteers who displayed an extraordinary dedication to service and the mission of the American Red Cross over the past year were recognized with one of three awards. This year’s honorees included:

Bob Bowker – Chair’s Excellence Award

Jeane Woo, Nedan Rambo, Scott Sapers, Jon Brown and Barbara Mariscal – CEO Award for Excellence

Jon Brown, Melissa Harris and Raul Claros – Golden Smoke Alarm Award

Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Region, Jarrett Barrios, also spoke during the event and made an exciting announcement about this falls unprecedented smoke alarm installation event, Sound the Alarm. Save a Life! As part of a nation-wide push to install 100,000 alarms in more than 100 cities, beginning Sept. 23rd – Oct. 21st, Jarrett Barrios announced that our region will host a total of five smoke alarm installation events with the goal of installing 4,000 smoke alarms in vulnerable communities right here in Los Angeles. He also stressed the importance of everyone in the region doing their part to help out, including registering to volunteer as an installer or home fire safety educator at one of this fall’s Sound the Alarm events. Jarrett Barrios stated, “We may not have marathons or bikeathons or walkathons at the Red Cross, but this year, with our Sound the Alarm events, we are having our first ever Installathon!”

He went on to note that volunteering is easy, because you can sign up right from your phone, by texting “SOUNDTHEALARM’ (all one word) to 75759, and following the prompts to register for the event that best works for your schedule. Jarrett Barrios also reminded attendees how easy it is to get your friends and family involved, by registering for one of our Crowd Rise Fundraising Teams. 

If you would like to view volunteer photographer Mimi Teller- Rosicky’s photos from the event, click here.