Red Cross Announces Labor Activist Will Chair Florida Heroes Campaign
Seth Eisenberg will serve as chairman of the Heroes for the Red Cross campaign in Broward County, Florida. William B. Epps, Jr., executive director of the chapter, made the announcement, recognizing Eisenberg as "a national labor leader who has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to making a difference for children and families.” Epps also praised America's union members for supporting the Red Cross. “Red Cross has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s workers over much of the past century on behalf of community preparedness, safer neighborhoods and our mutual commitment to neighbors helping neighbors in times of crisis,” he said.
Broward County, FL, September 14, 2004 -- Seth Eisenberg, a freelance writer,
communications specialist, and labor leader, will serve as chairman of Heroes
for the Red Cross in Broward County, announced William B. Epps, Jr., executive
director of the local chapter.
Staff and volunteers from the Fort
Lauderdale area chapter (www.arcbcc.org ) have been in the office, shelters and on-call
throughout the community nonstop since Floridians statewide began experiencing
the unusually active 2004 Hurricane season (including Hurricane Charley,
Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan) that began in August. While the impact of
the powerful Atlantic storms on Florida's residents has placed the local chapter
under greater pressure in recent weeks, Red Cross (www.redcross.org ) staff and
volunteers are frontline responders during emergencies of all types throughout
the year.
As chairman of the Heroes campaign, Eisenberg will help the
Broward chapter attract increased resources to strengthen preparedness, training
and infrastructure that can potentially impact every local resident in the event
of an emergency.
In announcing Eisenberg’s appointment, Epps said, “I’m
delighted that Seth Eisenberg, a national labor leader who has also repeatedly
demonstrated his commitment to making a difference for children and families in
south Florida, has agreed to serve as chairman of the Broward County Heroes for
the Red Cross campaign.”
Eisenberg, a native of northern Virginia, has
lived in Weston (www.westonfl.org ) since 1994, where his two sons attend
middle and high school. He said he is pleased to have been asked to serve Red
Cross, “especially at time when all Floridians recognize the vital importance of
preparedness and training to safeguarding our families and
neighborhoods.”
“Actively contributing to stronger neighborhoods and
communities has been an important part of my life for as long as I can
remember,” Eisenberg said.
His first national service began in 1978, he
recalled, when he was elected national student president of Junior Achievement
(www.ja.org ), a economic
education program for youth. Eisenberg was later recognized for his public
service by President Jimmy Carter (www.jimmycarter.org ) in an Oval Office meeting (www.whitehouse.gov
).
In 1980, Eisenberg was working as editor-in-chief of the bi-weekly
Community newspaper serving 10,000 Jewish families in Louisville, Kentucky.
Several months into the job, his boss told him he was sending the young
journalist on a ten-day tour of Israel (www.jpost.com ) to report on a United Jewish Appeal (www.uja.org ) fact-finding mission.
The experience changed Eisenberg’s life. Six months later, when he discovered it
wasn’t his employer that paid for his trip to Israel, but a generous member of
the community who had hoped to remain anonymous, Eisenberg was even more
touched.
“I went right to the individual, Charlie Weisberg, and asked how
I could ever repay him,” Eisenberg recalled. “He answered: ‘You’ll pay me back
many times over by helping others throughout your life.’”
Eisenberg never
forgot those words. “I’ve repeated them myself many times when those people I’ve
helped have asked me the same question,” he said.
As advisory council
chairman of the United Auto Workers, UAW (www.uaw.org ), for a 12-state region that stretches from
Pennsylvania to Florida, Eisenberg sees the challenges and struggles facing
Americans and their families everyday.
“We stand together at every
opportunity for the rights and respect of workers who contribute so much of
their lives to building America,” Eisenberg said. UAW, an AFL-CIO union (www.aflcio.org ), represents over
one million automobile, aerospace, agricultural implement, public sector
workers, freelance writers, academicians and a range of other technical, office
and professional employees and retirees throughout the nation. Eisenberg is also
state coordinator for UAW Local 1981, the National Writers Union.
Epps
said Eisenberg’s leadership role in the labor movement influenced the decision
to ask him to chair the Red Cross Heroes campaign.
“Red Cross has stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s workers over much of the past century on
behalf of community preparedness, safer neighborhoods and our mutual commitment
to neighbors helping neighbors in times of crisis,” said Epps.
“Time and
again,” the Red Cross director added, “chapters across America have benefited
from the generosity and selfless dedication shown by members of America’s labor
unions.”
Eisenberg has often addressed state and national audiences on
the challenges facing youth and families. As director of PAIRS (www.pairs.org ) from 1995 to 2001,
he helped develop communications skills and emotional intelligence training that
he taught to thousands of Florida students. He went on to found 411-KIDS (www.411kids.org ) to provide an
umbrella for volunteers to help runaway, homeless and disadvantaged
youth.
Eisenberg continues to work actively with at-risk youth and adults
throughout the state.
Professionally, Eisenberg is a freelance writer and
communications specialist, serving a select group of non-profit, academic,
political and corporate clients with material development, public relations, and
training.
Red Cross is banking on Eisenberg’s experience to help
strengthen operations in Broward County while developing additional resources
critical to meeting local needs.
“As our campaign chairman, Seth will
work closely with our professional staff and volunteers to share the Red Cross
story with other leaders throughout our community,” Epps said. “I know his own
passion, enthusiasm and enormous dedication will help many others appreciate the
role of Red Cross and realize their participation in the Heroes campaign is
critically important to our own families and neighbors,” the executive director
added.
Eisenberg said he has already begun working with other campaign
volunteers to identify as many as 200 Heroes for the Red Cross in Broward
County.
“This is not a job any of us can do alone,” Eisenberg said. “Red
Cross – like all great enterprises – is about what’s possible when we work
together towards a common goal. Red Cross is there for all of us every day. The
Heroes campaign is about being there for the Red Cross and for each
other.”
To learn more about serving as a Hero for the Red Cross, or
involving your business, school, church, club or organization in the campaign,
call Red Cross at (954) 797-3842, E-mail e-mail protected from spam bots , or
visit www.arcbcc.org
.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb158080.htm