Houston NewsMakers for Aug. 28

American Red Cross, Silver Fox Advisors featured

HOUSTON – Steve Vetrano is the Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Gulf Coast Region of the American Red Cross. He says the Houston region has seen its share of flood and storm issues this past year but it pales when compared to what Louisiana has been dealing with these past few weeks. “The geography that was covered here in those times was large as well,” he said. “But just to give you some sense of magnitude, there were about four thousand homes impacted throughout that whole time. In Louisiana we’re talking over 40-thousand! So that’s a big difference.”

Vetrano says the Houston region, like so many others around the country have been sending in people to help Louisianans recover and that there are volunteers from all 50 states helping out. He reminds that without the support of money and volunteers, none of the help would be possible.

With the Red Cross depending on volunteers for 95% of its workforce, there is an ongoing effort to train men and women to be ready for the tremendous challenges they face. “It’s the same response no matter what the disaster type is,” he said. “We’re making sure people have a safe place to stay. They have comfort, they have someone who can hold their hand to get them through that. A lot of emotional support is needed through this too and that’s not necessarily recognized but that’s a large part of what our volunteers are doing as well.” Find the link to support the American Red Cross financially and for ways to volunteer at www.redcross.org

ALSO THIS WEEK:

THE Silver Fox Advisors are celebrating 30 years of helping young business grow and prosper. The advisors are made up of retired business men and women who provide advice for entrepreneurs trying to succeed. The group is made up of more than 50 local former CEOs and business leaders. Lane Sloan is the former CEO of Shell Chemical and says the group is perfect for small businesses trying to grow. “When you’re helping the small business it’s very fast and you can see the success,” he said.  “The success is very personal. It’s not one of these things where you got a bureaucracy but you can really see the success and the growth.”
Sloan says getting their business expertise is incredibly easy once you get to their website www.silverfox.org “You can see all the advisors and we’ve got about fifty so you can see all the different advisors and pick one that suits your particular circumstance, or you can just contact us and we’ll look through and you describe what your problem is and we’ll try to work with you.

Contact information for this week’s guests: