Scheduling a late summer getaway? Preparing to purchase back-to-school clothing and supplies? Thinking about buying a new HD plasma screen TV to watch favorite college or pro football teams?

The American Red Cross, Greater Alleghenies Blood Services Region will help make such plans a reality for ten lucky blood and platelet donors who help ease the organization’s current serious blood shortage during August.

John Hagins, CEO, Greater Alleghenies Region, explained that five blood and five platelet donors who present to donate during August will automatically be entered in drawings for a $500 giftcertificate.com super certificate to redeem for one or more gift cards or certificates totaling $500.

“Patients’ lives depend on sustained strong donor turnout throughout August,” Hagins commented. “Thousands of blood donations are needed each and every day to help treat accident victims, cancer patients, children with blood disorders and others. Unfortunately, blood donations through the Red Cross nationally are at the lowest they have been in 15 years. There is an emergency need for blood donors this summer. These drawings are a way to thank those who take time to donate blood.”

He said that donors with all blood types are needed each day, adding that currently hospitals are experiencing a high demand for O positive, O negative, A negative and B negative blood types. Donors who have these blood types are urged to regularly donate blood throughout the year to maintain inventory levels.

Two drawings — one for a platelet donor and one for a blood or double red cell donor — will be held following these time periods: Aug. 5–11, Aug. 12–18, Aug. 19–25 and Aug. 26–31. Winners will be notified within a week following the end of each entry period.

In addition, area Red Cross blood and platelet donors can earn double Donor Rewards points throughout August. During 2012, Red Cross donors earn points with each blood and platelet donation. Rewards points can be redeemed each quarter, or saved and redeemed at the end of the year. Donors are automatically entered in the Rewards Club when they make a blood, double red cell or platelet donation.

“Please schedule a donation appointment today to help us maintain a safe and adequate blood supply for patients in need,” Hagins added.  “There’s still time to do something extraordinary this summer and donate blood.”

The complete donation process only takes about an hour and 15 minutes, with the actual donation only lasting 10 to 12 minutes.

Most people can safely donate blood every 56 days. Individuals who are healthy, at least 17 years old or older (or 16 with a signed parental consent form), and weigh at least 110 pounds are eligible to donate blood and platelets. Donors who are 18 and younger must also meet specific height and weight requirements.

Those with specific eligibility questions should call the Red Cross Donor Client Support Center at 1-866-236-3276.

Call 1-800-RED CROSS (733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org to learn more about giving blood or platelets or to schedule an appointment to donate. Blood donation appointments are encouraged; walk-in donors are welcome, but may have a small wait. Donors who elect to walk-in may want to donate after the first hour of the blood drive, when wait times are shorter.

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MANILA, Philippines – Donations continue to pour in for the thousands of families displaced by the widespread monsoon floods in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday.

NDRRMC director Armando Duque said the donations came mostly in the form of relief goods, foodstuff, bottled drinking water, and medicine.

“These donations are now being received, handled and distributed to the flood victims in the affected areas of Metro Manila and nearby provinces by various line agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), and non-government groups,” Duque said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), as well as personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), are also on hand to assist the affected residents, Duque said.

“Local and foreign donations continue to pour in as we shift from search and rescue missions to relief distribution and rehabilitation operations. So many donations are coming in,” he said.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has mobilized logistics and food support to complement the Philippine government’s emergency relief efforts.

The WFP has delivered a total of 52.5 metric tons of high-energy biscuits to 262,500 flood-affected people in Metro Manila and Regions III and IV-A, and the DSWD is currently distributing them to the affected areas.

Most of the biscuits (39.5 metric tons) will go to Regions III and IV-A, which the government has identified as the most flood-affected, where they will be distributed to 197,500 people.

The remaining 13 metric tons will assist 65,000 flood-affected people in the National Capital Region, which includes Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Parañaque and Quezon City.

High-energy biscuits are wheat-based biscuits fortified with vitamins and minerals. They are often distributed during the first few days of an emergency, when people have limited access to cooking facilities.

In addition to distributing the biscuits, the WFP is contracting trucks to help the DSWD transport relief supplies to affected communities in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

The WFP is also planning to distribute nutritious, ready-to-use supplementary food to about 77,000 flood-affected children aged six to 36 months in Luzon, in partnership with the DOH.

“The WFP is saddened by the humanitarian impact of the non-stop rains over the last week in the Philippines, and we would like reiterate our solidarity with the Philippine government during times of emergencies. We stand ready to offer our full support to augment government efforts when needed,” said WFP Philippines representative and country director Stephen Anderson.

Australia also announced it will send donations for the flood victims.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr said they would be making available up to A$2 million (P88 million) in food and emergency supplies, to be delivered through the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the WFP.

The Australian government has provided P44 million worth of emergency kits for distribution to families which include medical supplies, mosquito nets and water containers, and another 1,000 tons of rice worth P44 million.

“We are providing $1 million to WFP and we are backing that up with nearly $1 million made available to the Red Cross for those in need,” Carr said.

“The Australian government has made these items available through the PRC and WFP so that they can be immediately accessed in serious humanitarian situations, such as the current flooding in and around the capital,” said Australian Ambassador Bill Tweddell.

“We know that prompt response is essential to saving lives during disasters. Australia, through our arrangements with the PRC and WFP, is able to assist the Philippine government to respond quickly and effectively,” Tweddell said.

Officials of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) visited flood-affected areas.

They have been working closely with the government and other donors to ensure the Philippines would get the support it needs to manage the crisis.

The volunteer network Tulong Kabataan (TK) of 5,000 volunteers also launched relief operations in affected areas in Metro Manila.

“We know that everyone wants to help out others in these times of great need; some people just might have trouble getting to relief centers or even finding the actual relief centers so TK goes to the people instead,” TK national coordinator Vencer Crisostomo said.

So far, TK services such as feeding programs, medical missions, and relief distribution have reached 5,000 people in hard-hit, seldom reached areas such as Baseco compound in Manila, Commonwealth, Batasan, East Kamias in Quezon City, and Catmon in Malabon.

Evacuees up north increasing

While the number of evacuees in Metro Manila has significantly decreased, except in the flood-prone cities of Marikina and Pasig, Duque noted a significant increase in the total number of evacuation centers set up in Central Luzon to accommodate more families displaced by the flooding in Pampanga and Tarlac.

“Flooding worsened Friday in Tarlac due to continuous heavy southwest monsoon rains. This is where there is concentrated cloud formation,” Duque said. – Pia Lee Brago, Sandy Araneta, Marvin Sy

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  Schoep at the vet

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• EARLIER: Bayfield, Wis., photographer’s photo goes viral

It says something about the joyous frenzy that has arisen around John Unger and his dog, Schoep, this week that Unger and photographer Hannah Stonehouse Hudson have had to bring in a public relations agent.

“My phone is ringing off the hook,” Hudson said during a phone interview on Thursday from the Upper Peninsula, where she was heading for an assignment. “I have 500 unanswered e-mails at this point.”

Hudson took the shot seen around the world — Unger holding the blissfully slumbering Schoep, his 19-year-old shepherd mix, in the waters of Lake Superior — on July 31 and posted it on her Facebook page on Aug. 1. By Sunday, it had gotten 1.8 million views; the last she checked it was close to 3 million.

The News Tribune’s story about the picture, which appeared Monday, was only the beginning of a flurry of media attention. Among other outlets, their story has been on the Huffington Post, CNN, Fox News, the “Today” show’s blog, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Pages in Minneapolis and “a bunch of Croatian TV stations and newspapers,” said Hudson, whose home base is Bayfield.

Unger said he has heard from people in Hungary, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand and “places I had to look up because I had no idea where they were.”

The unassuming Unger had been interviewed by Duluth and Minneapolis TV stations on Thursday. “It’s generally I’m taking care of the stuff up here and she’s doing the nationals,” Unger said of Hudson. Then he laughed at what he’d just said. “That’s just bizarre.”

Helping Unger and Hudson manage the attention and demands on their time is Julie McGarvie Unger, John Unger’s sister-in-law, who has a career in public relations.

“It’s nothing but interviews now, where before it was nothing but berries,” said John Unger, who is a caretaker on the fruit farm outside of Bayfield where he lives. “That’s all I had to think about before was berries.”

Lest all of this sounds like an unwelcome burden for a small-town professional photographer and a middle-aged bachelor-farmer, neither has any complaints.

“It’s so much fun,” Unger said. “Still, I haven’t slept much. I’m not eating well. The dishes are still in the sink, undone. But Schoep is fantastic. … It’s all fantastic.”

Said Hudson, a former insurance agent: “I’ve discovered that these random skills that I have are all coming to fruition. They are all useful right now. And that’s why I’m not stressed out. I’m enjoying this.”

Besides, Schoep is benefitting from all of the attention. A couple of weeks ago, Unger had taken his dog to Bay Area Animal Hospital in Ashland. He got pain medication for Schoep but couldn’t afford more extensive treatment. But after learning about the dog’s story, anonymous donors made it possible for Schoep to get the supplement glucosamine along with laser treatments to treat his arthritis.

“John is a great guy, but he just doesn’t have any money,” said the veterinarian, Dr. Erik Haukaas. “Schoep is a great dog and everybody has responded to this, and we have received a number of donations. So we are now able to do everything possible for the dog.”

The glucosamine “gets oil into the rusty hinges,” Haukaas said, but won’t take effect for a few weeks.

The laser treatment, in use for dogs for a couple of years, involves passing a wand across the dog’s limbs as it lies on a mat. “Many of the times when we’re doing the treatment, the dogs fall asleep,” Haukaas said. “It probably feels like a bit of a massage.”

Glucosamine costs about $70 a month, Haukaas said. The six initial laser treatments, which take place over three weeks, cost between $200 and $300. Schoep probably will need ongoing treatment, Haukaas said, although the frequency will depend on how he responds to the first set.

But donations keep coming in. “We got a call from London this morning,” Haukaas said.

Hudson and Unger also stand to benefit financially. The print is for sale online in a variety of formats, and they will split the proceeds 50-50. Hudson said she hopes to use her share of whatever money results to fulfill “a dream of mine,” but wouldn’t say exactly what that dream is. “It involves dogs and it involves photography.”

Unger simply wants to pay off some bills and pay back some loans. “I’ve had to borrow money at times,” he said. “The generous people from this community have helped me with a loan here and there when I’ve needed it.”

For all the changes, the one thing that can’t change is that Schoep is an old dog with degenerative arthritis.

“What we are trying to do is give him quality of life,” Haukaas said. “I can’t expect that we’re going to extend his life. He’s already an incredibly old dog. But the time that he has with us we want to make him as comfortable as possible.”

Unger said the pain medicine alone seems to have made Schoep perkier. He’s realistic about his dog’s future but thankful for whatever he can get.

“What I initially thought when I asked Hannah to do the photograph I thought possibly it might only be a couple of more weeks,” he said. “But with the treatment, with the pain medicine, with the supplements, now it’s going to be longer for sure.”

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