I was able to get out today, Feb. 11, 2008, to view some of the damage left from the tornado that touched down nearby. My local chapter of the ARC opened up a shelter at the Christ of Christ in the Aldridge Community; no one visited so it was closed Saturday. The Lawrence Co Red Cross has set up in a church in Moulton to assist as needed. Several different volunteer groups have come together to help serve meals for volunteer workers, vouchers for housing, and clothing has been distributed.

Our daughter-in-law's family lives in the communities were the tornado touched down. Several of her cousins lost their homes, and a few suffered injuries. I'm attaching a photo of what is left to her cousin's house: a set of stairs in the middle of the house and the brick foundation is all that is left. Her cousin was home alone and headed to the bathroom when she decided to get in the closet under the stairs. The flooring gave way, she and her 22 month old child were trapped under the debris until help arrived. The tub from the bathroom was laying out in the field several yards from the house; it was a miracle she decided to get in the closet!! She and the baby had scratches but survived. There have been numerous stories of survival and folks calling family to alert them of the approaching tornado.

Neighbors are helping neighbors, volunteers came out in numbers with chain saws to clear trees from the roads and houses. Because this is such a rural area, meals are being served at churches in the area and meals being delivered to the home sites for volunteers working in the fields. I saw a Red Cross van traveling down a rural road as I was out today. I'm volunteering as I can at the site set up in Moulton.

In the middle of last year we were surprised and honored to be selected as recipients of the Penny Harvest collections taken by P.S. 26 in Fresh Meadows, Queens, NY. We reported to you that we had received a donation of $300. And we said we wish we had a photo of the kids who collected those 30,000 pennies.

We now want to introduce you to the amazing Junior Joey, Matthew "Phineas " Lish, of Fresh Meadows, Queens, NY. It was his idea and his instigation which resulted in the generosity of these children. Phineas is shown here at the Clown City January Jamboree in Mystic, CT.

Phineas and his dad, Dr Molar Magic signed up as responders during the January Jamboree convention. Welcome and thank you!

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Amanda Herrick, the Health and Safety Director of the American Red Cross in Russell County (AL) shared with us a community project organized by two high school youth groups. The idea was to help children of local disasters be able to return one area of their lives back to normal by being able to go back to school and have all of their supplies to do their work.

Ms. Herrick tell us "Both schools offered a drive to all of the students, asking them to bring in notebook paper, pencils, crayons, glue and other supplies. Then, one group made donations to buy the rest of the needed supplies and the other group collected donations in the community to buy theirs. One school also prepared some of their bags for middle school level children as well as elementary. After that, they packed the bookbags for us and now we have them stored in a closet where we can get to them anytime we have a fire that involves children."

This project can be repeated in any community. The contents are:

• loose-leaf paper
• single subject notebook
• 24 pk crayons
• 12" ruler
• glue
• stickers
• 10-pk pencils
• pencil erasers
• pencil sharpener
• 2-3 folders

Suggestions for bookbags for middle school children are, minus the crayons and glue:

• protractor
• compass
• graph paper
• a few pens

It was a lot of fun for the youth groups, and we've already given about 8 of them away to children who lost everything in fires, Ms Herrick reports.

We think this is a wonderful idea, one that responders everywhere can contribute to. See if your community can come together to get a similar project started. Let them know that Red Nose Response is behind this.

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The rare winter storms that produced many tornadoes across the southern states spawned a tornado that hit college dormitories at Union University in Jackson, TN.

Red Nose Response mailed communication to the college requesting suggestions for how we can help.

If you would like to follow up on this need you can direct your inquiry to info@uu.edu. If you get any information we would appreciate hearing from you.

Information about this story and the tornadoes can be seen by going to our Forum at www.rednoseresponse.org., Enter the Forum and go to Current Response.

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On Thursday, Feb. 14, tragedy struck the campus of Northern Illinois University. A gunman entered a class and proceeded to kill five NIU students and injure 18 other students before taking his own life. News of this terrible event brought back memories of last year's Virginia Tech shooting and once again, we wanted to let you know what you can do to help those in need. First, Northern Illinois University has established a scholarship fund to honor the memory of those slain. Your contributions will go into a fund administered by the NIU Scholarship Committee. This organization will distribute scholarships to deserving students in the name of those who lost their lives. Click on the link below for more information. In addition, you may post your condolences, thoughts and prayers online. A special guest book has been set up and the link below takes you to a page with additional details.

Additional Information

We have found that the face to face meetings between Red Nose Responders and other clowns is a positive force when new responders sign up. This has happened at nearly every clown gathering and convention in the last year.

Marion Lovig, a State Coordinator for Connecticut set up a table display for Red Nose Response at the recent January Jamboree in Mystic CT. She was assisted by National Director of Coordinatiors, Elaine "Daisy D. Dots" Vercellone.

These two talked and explained and dispelled myths about RNR. They discussed training and shelter response. They exhibited RNR items. In the end Red Nose Response had 16 new responders. You can do it too!

The current (and it changes daily) active membership is now 420. Way to go, Elaine and Marion.

The Nov. 2007 issue of the RNR newsletter featured an article about other ways you can find out how to help when a disaster hits your area. It is important enough to repeat.

Dialing 2-1-1 from your phone, where available, will connect you with volunteer opportunities and community services throughout the country. In the aftermath of the California wildfires, the American Red Cross has even asked many of those interested in volunteering to call this number first.

If you do find out valuable information about activities in your area, please share it with us and we will make it available to the rest of RNR. Contact us at volunteer@rednoseresponse.org.

You will find the full story on the web site by searching under News and Events, E=zine, 2007 Archive.

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What better way to chronicle your stories. You can even store photos. Send those stories and photos to the editors of the newsletter, barbara@rednoseresponse.org or arla@rednoseresponse.org

One very important reminder is to get a photo release from the subjects of your pictures, both for consent to use the photo and to ensure correct spelling of all names.

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You asked for them and we listened! In the next month, RNR will begin filming a series of videos outlining everything from the basics of shelter clowning to disaster preparedness. This material will be able to be viewed on our website.

Stay tuned for more information