December 2017

On December 31, Geneviève Gauvin was curling her six-year-old daughter’s hair for New Year’s Eve when she heard someone knock on the door, shouting for her to get out. The building was on fire!

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take a look back on stories that inspired us this year. With our year in review, we wanted to highlight those moments of humanity we shared this year. Now as one inspiring collection, here are our top 10 stories from 2017.

For many people in Newfoundland and Labrador, holiday festivities wouldn’t be complete without the centuries-old tradition of mummering — a disguised house visiting and guessing game.  Canadian Red Cross staff in St. John's recently got in on the fun too.

​Tropical Storm Tembin made landfall in Mindanao, in southern Philippines, last weekend, causing flashfloods and landslides and impacting up to 23 provinces and leaving thousands displaced. The storm caused damage to homes, as well as critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and power lines. Casualties and injuries, as well as missing people, have also been reported.

The holidays can be difficult for some, including those who have experienced an emergency or disaster such as wildfires and flooding that affected many throughout the country this year. We’ve gathered some information on stress as well as tips for taking care of yourself and others during the holidays in this booklet, Moving through Recovery: a guide during the holidays.

Knowledge, equipment, and skill. Those are the three things that can help you stay safe on the ice and survive if you fall through it. That’s according to Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, who operates the Laboratory for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at the University of Manitoba and was the keynote speaker at the 8^th Annual Red Cross Alberta Water Safety Conference in Calgary.

What began as an online search for a mannequin to be used in a small display of historical items at our Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, building has reacquainted us with a long-retired volunteer who had an exceptional history with the Canadian Red Cross in Nova Scotia.

This past year was marked by an unprecedented number of disasters both at home and around the world. In Canada alone, we assisted more than 150,000 people who were affected by disasters such as ice storms, floods and devastating wildfires.