Week 13: The Overall Experience

During my four month internship with the American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts I have learned a lot about the career path I wish to follow and a lot about the skills I possess. My internship mentor, Darice, gave me many opportunities to take a project into my own hands and make it my own. I have always known about my creativity skills, but I never thought that when I was this young my work would be published and shown to hundreds of people. My biggest excitement during this internship was creating the Save the Date Golf Tournament postcard and the Golf Tournament Brochure that was sent to 1000 recipients in the central MA area and 500 in the Berkshire area. After seeing my work come from our printer I was immersed with a great sense of pride and I became more confident in my skills.

After seeing an event from beginning to end and all that it takes for it to be successful I now know that this is the field of public relations that I wish to be apart of. I enjoy the event coordination and marketing portion of community relations. I am not sure what industry I wish to be apart of but I know that I just have to start somewhere. I have gained a great deal of experience on how to act, work, and  be apart of a team in the business world. I will not start off in the position I wish to have as a career, but I now know what I have to do in order to get there and this is all thanks to those at the Red Cross who were there to teach that to me.

Heroes Breakfast, March 22, 2012

Since February Darice and I have been going on numerous trips around Worcester County with our videographer Ryan Hughes. We have been interviewing our Heroes and vicitms to gather their stories to create our video that would air during the Heroes Breakfast in March. Here are some pictures of us on our interviews!

About two weeks before the event we released the following image as an online ad to go on telegram.com. I had the privilage to create it!

During the week of Spring Break the Heroes Breakfast the Darice, Pat and I have been working on since January finally arrived. The day before I worked a ten hour shift getting everything ready at the office and at the Manor Restaurant. We had a few bumps that day, but it was nothing that we could not overcome. That night I barely slept due to my excitement for what the morning would bring. At 4:15am I was awake and getting ready, I was at the Manor by 6:00am. We finished our preparations and guests began arriving at 7:00am, my job during the arrival was to register the Heroes and pin on their boutineers and corsages. Once the program began I worked alongside my colleague Caitlin O'Hara in making sure the Heroes went on stage at the proper time to recieve their award and exited to have their picture taken with our CEO Lisa Piehler. Here are some pictures from the event!

Red Cross Volunteers Table

Our Fitchburg Teen Heroes

Our Britney Gengel Humanitarian Award recipient

My job when the Heroes arrived

CEO Lisa Piehler with Hank Stolz

Presenting Firefighter Davies helmet

Week 11: Codes of Conduct

When I first joined the Red Cross back in January I was presented with multiple forms, I was given a Volunteer Handbook and paperwork on their codes of conduct, the American Red Cross Code of Business Ethics and Conduct. This can be found online from the National Headquarter page; Codes of Conduct- American Red Cross . These codes are developed by the national headquarters so that every employee and volunteer of every chapter across the entire United States is following the same set of guidelines.

The codes of conduct touch on the basis of personal use, financial advantage, Red Cross affiliation, confidentiality, improper influence, conflict on interest, retaliation, and contrary to the best interest of the Red Cross. Upon reading all of these sections they all clearly define how the employee or volunteer cannot act with the name of the Red Cross. The Red Cross has touched on many points with these and have closed many loopholes, but when I was reading these it took me more than one time through to understand exactally what they meant; at times they were wordy and were not directly to the point, this I found as a weakness.

A strength I found in the codes of conduct was that they have developed programs that will handle the different problems that arise. With a non-profit organization you have to be ready for constituents, and not just your employees and volunteers possibly attacking some of your actions to the community you are supporting. They have developed an Informal Dispute Program and a Formal Dispute Program. The informal deals with outside constituents who may have complaints about Red Cross services or other problems and the formal deals with investigations in fraud, waste, abuse, policy violations and illegial or unethical conduct.

The Red Cross also has another strength and like many they have their "open door policy" or what they call, Whistlerblower Hotline Programs. This allows all volunteers and employees the ability to bring any concerns to the forefront of the organization and their supervisors. Following their description on this program they list all of the different organizations they employee or volunteer can contact with phone numbers listed and a description of what each organiztion handles. This is a great strength because many times some employees or volunteers may be unsure of who to actually go to, espeicailly in such a large organiztion that has many different offerings.

Week 9: Tasks/Assignments and Educational Implications

Since day one at my internship I have been given numerous tasks and assignments. On Thursday March 22, we had the 10th annual Heroes Breakfast held at the Manor Restaurant in West Boylston. For this event I had duties such as contacting people to nominate heroes from local newspaper clippings from 2011. After our heroes had been chosen I had to create certificates and thank you letters to all of those who had participated and then contact those who had been chosen and take down their information so we could start filming their stories. I then worked hand in hand with Darice in creating our invitation, awards, program and went on numerous outings to visit our heroes and the victims of some of the stories to capture their story on film with our videographer Ryan Hughes. About two weeks before the event we had a meeting with the event coordinator from the Manor and this was a new experience because I saw everything that you need to address and discuss before your event can actually happen. When I finally saw it all come together after working a 10 hour shift the day before for setup I was so happy to see all of our hard work pay off. During the event and after it I had the greatest feeling in the world, the event was a success and everyone enjoyed themselves. I received many congratulations and thank yous and I was so happy to have had a role in all of the behind the scenes work.

This is the CEO Lisa Piehler participating in the Radio event.

Along with this event I have also been given tasks to create certificates for an Amateur Radio event that took place at the chapter on March 9-10. There is also the annual golf tournament coming up in July and in my previous "what I have been up to.." blog there are examples of my work from the task I was asked to complete. In the next four weeks I will begin working on sponsorship brochures for the golf tournament and will continue to create any promotional items that will be needed. I have also agreed to assist Darice up until the golf tournament and will be working it the day of as well. I love to see the end result because there is so much work that leads up to these events that when you witness everything coming together it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Week 7: Preliminary Evaluation of Experience

1) Intern's Name  Meghan Alarie

2) Internship Firm/Organization American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts

3) This internship provides me with an adequate learning experience for my background. This internship will provide me with an abundance of experience. I am able to take projects into my own hands and go off on my own to complete them. I am given a lot of responsibility and thus am receiving a lot of experience and background.

4) My mentor at this organization understands my goals and objectives.  My mentor, Darice, has been very understanding of my goals and objectives, before coming to the Red Cross Darice was in the line of work that I wish to go into and with that she is able to delegate tasks to me that will help me reach my goals and objectives.

5) I did adequate preparation investigating the sponsoring organization and level of placement before accepting this position. When I went into the internship fair in the Fall, I really was not sure what type of position I was looking for, I knew what I wanted for experience, I wanted to work with someone who would need to do a lot of event planning and have that be a major part of their public relations plan. Upon looking at all of the companies that were there I figured I would gain a lot of experience with the Worcester Sharks, but upon meeting with Darice and talking to her for 15 minutes I soon realized that I wanted to be at the Red Cross. After our meeting I looked more at the chapter and the paperwork she had given me and decided that this was where I wanted to be.

6) This organization expects too much work or requires more polished work than I was prepared to do. I do not feel that I am overwhelmed with more work than I was prepared for. I have had a lot more traveling than I thought, but it is nothing that really overwhelms me. With my current part time position I was actually really prepared for a large work load and it is what I have always been used to.

7) I cooperate with my colleagues in our work or to accomplish joint goals at the organization. I do work hand in hand with Darice as well as another woman in the office, Pat, who I learn a lot of computer skills from. All though Darice is in charge of the Heroes Breakfast we work closely with Pat for she has worked on this project in years previous. Not only do I work with others in the Central Mass office, but also other Communication Directors from other Mass. chapters as well, and I produce some work for them.

8) I cope with annoying situations without losing my temper or poise? When working closely with others and those who are outside of the office you need to keep your poise at all times. We have run into some difficult situations but I have always prided myself on being able to keep things professional and I believe I have handled the situations with poise and grace.

9) I am eager to learn new skills. Darice has allowed me to work so closely with her that I am very eager every day I go to the office. I am able to show so much of my abilities and learn a lot from her that it makes my internship experience very enjoyable.

10) I find something new to learn even in the most routine tasks. This is very true, for example, after creating my postcard for our golf tournament we then had to process all of the mailing labels. We already had all 1500 contacts in an Microsoft Excell spreadsheet and Pat was able to teach me how to do a mail merge. This may seem like a secretarial skill but I know that having this skill will definitely come in handy one day.

11) I consider my internship position challenging and worthy of my talents. This internship has been challenging, but also very rewarding. I know I have the skills of resourcefulness and creativity, but I was able to enhance them with this position. My skills were challenged, but without being challenged I would never have gotten the experience that I have thus far.

12) My attitude toward colleagues and clients is helpful and concerned. When working very closely with our Heroes I have learned how to communicate better with those who must be informed. I had to learn everything about our event inside and out in order to answer any questions that they had. I also had to learn how to work closely with media personnel and how to be helpful to them in giving them what they need to do their job.

13) I easily recognize clients' needs and then try and assist them. The needs of the clients were clear. We have March is Red Cross month and we wanted to make sure that our events were going to be bigger and better this year. For our events we wanted everything finished with enough time for mistakes to be brought to our attention before that actual day of the event. Darice does not currently have an assistant, so my job was to fill that position.

14) I demonstrate ease in initiating conversation with colleagues and clients. This is a skill that I have always felt very comfortable about. Conversation is the key to getting anything done and without being able to initiate it you are going to make your work day that much difficult. No matter the situation, good or bad you need to be able to communicate with your colleagues and clients.

15) I show confidence and poise in dealing with colleagues and clients. I have always felt that I have very good "people skills." I know that I belong where I am and that I have worked hard to get there and this is where I draw my confidence from. When you are in the work place you need to be confident and poised in your relations because if you are there, it is more than likely that you did something right to be there. When you have confidence in dealing with your clients and colleagues you will be respected and that is a very important quality in the work place.

16) This organization can point to me with pride as one of their employees. I have been many places and have met many new people with the Red Cross and I am always introduced and am able to talk and form an opinion. When I first started I had a media training course with other directors I was able to join in on the training activities and my responses were heard and they were definitely proud of how I preformed and were happy to have me there.

17) I approach all tasks, even low level ones, with enthusiasm and a commitment to excellence. Being an intern there will be those tasks that seem "low level" but somebody needs to do it, such as addressing envelopes or putting together packets. These jobs need to be done and I am committed to doing them right because they are all apart of the process.

18) My work patterns and quality of work produced justify the time and money the firm is investing in me. I know that I have good work ethic and this is a very busy time for the Red Cross so we all need to be working diligently to complete tasks on time. During my 6 hour days I am constantly working, either Darice and I are working together or she gives me a job for me to complete on my own and then I see her when it is finished before anything goes out to the public.

19) I look forward to each day enthusiastically. I look forward to each work day. Each day we are working on new projects and getting closer to our larger event. What is very exciting about my work days are that we are very active, we are not just sitting in an office, many times we are meeting with people and completing tasks outside of the office.

20) Although this internship is a short-term position, I am personally committed and involved for the present. I am very involved in the present, I will also be trying to attend our golf tournament in July even though I will not be an Intern I want to see the turn out and the revenue that my save the date gained.

21) This internship experience has helped me clarify future goals. This internship has made me realize that this is what I want to go into. I understand the communications end of public relations but I have thoroughly enjoyed working on our events that we have produced. I know now that this is the end of public relations that I wish to concentrate on and I hope to be successful in.

22) Describe areas of personal interest and ability that you had not been aware of before working for this organization.

What I have been up to....

So I thought I would give a little up date on the activities I have been working on. Right now we are in the midst of planning the annual Hero's Breakfast that will take place on March 22nd at the Manor Restaurant in West Boylston. With the interview process underway for the video that will be aired during the breakfast we have been busy at work with also planning the annual Charity Golf Tournament that will be on July 30th at the International in Bolton. This is one of the largest fundraising events of the year for the Red Cross of Central Mass and we will invite over a thousand people and companies to join us. In March a Save the Date card will be sent out and I was given the opportunity to show off my creative and artistic skills and create the postcard.

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When my director and other board members saw this they loved it and 1000 of them were ordered. I was also approached by the director of the Berkshire chapter to adjust it to their chapter's golf tournament this is what I created...

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500 of these were ordered. It is such an amazing feeling to know that so many people are going to see your work, there is no other feeling in the world like it. I take pride in my work and am very proud of myself and what I have created.

Week 5: Organization Hierarchy, Management Structure, Communication Methods

The Red Cross is a very structured organization, and because they are world wide they need to have similarity throughout the chapters. You can think of the structure as a triangle, at the top you have the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. They are the top ruler of all the world wide Red Cross organizations. Next in America, you have the National Headquarters, this is located in Washington D.C. and they govern all the the Red Cross chapters in the United States. Then there are the local chapters throughout each state such as the one I am currently interning with, American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts. The local states though do have a Regional CEO, Lisa Piehler is the Regional CEO for Central and Western Massachusetts.

The structure is very formal and the Red Cross has many different boards of governors to initiate control, and this is needed with such a large organization. The President of the United States is the honorary chairman of the Red Cross. The President then selects eight board members and selects the Chairman, and the Chairman suggests prospects to the board for a President of the Red Cross. The President of the Red Cross is the one responsible for carrying out the policies and procedures that are created by the board. (On the left is Gail McGovern whom is the President and CEO of the Red Cross. To the right is Bonnie McEvleen-Hunter whom is the Chairman of the Board)







The Red Cross has a structured communication system as well. National in Washington creates templates year round of public relations pieces to be used by the local chapters. The templates are able to be easily modified for the chapters, but sometimes problems do occur. Darice and I have run into some of these problems while creating some press releases and event templates but it was very easy to call over to "brand central" and ask them to help us fix our problems. Communication with the media then to distribute our public relations pieces is as simple as attaching it to an email and selecting emails of local media outlets that we wish to send it to and clicking send.

Week 3: Organization/Personal Goals of the Internship

The goals of my internship are

• understand the job of public relations department at the American Red Cross
• experience first hand how the public relations department works
• assist with the planning and execution of special events
• conduct research needed for events 
• assist with the creation of public relations materials
• assist with the creation of a public relations campaign for the month of March
• learn how those in the public relations department work together 
• learn how important a successful public relations campaign is needed in order for the Red Cross to be successful
• learn the process for communicating to the media about local disasters
• learn how to speak to the media on behalf of the Red Cross

These goals are my personal and that of which were discussed when I first interviewed for my internship. So far within these first weeks of my internship I have already been working towards these goals and have been experiencing a new and exciting work environment. Many of the experiences and work techniques and skills that I will learn throughout these goals I know will help in shaping my future in the public relations field. A very personal goal of mine while I am working at the Red Cross though is to complete training to become a volunteer on the Disaster Action Team. I wish to become certified and continue, even once my internship has finished as a volunteer at the central mass chapter or any chapter in the area that I live in in the future.

Week 1: The Organization and It's Mission

I am working with the American Red Cross of Central and Western Massachusetts. The Red Cross is a premier emergency response organization. The regions office is located at The Remillard Building at 2000 Century Drive in Worcester, Massachusetts. You can also access their website at www.redcross.org. My mentor during this internship is Darice Aubuchon whom is the Director of Communication and Special Events.

The American Red Cross was started by Clara Barton in 1881. Clara Barton had heard about an International Red Cross Movement while visiting Europe. Upon returning home she campaigned for an American Red Cross society and headed it for 23 years. The American Red Cross started off as an aid to wounded American soldiers and would then grow to offering classes in first aid, water safety and public health. Once natural disasters began to strike the Red Cross provided relief for its victims. The American Red Cross was never and will never be government owned, is volunteer-led and is financially supported by voluntary public contributions.

The mission statement of the Red Cross:
"The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers and guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, will provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies."

The Red Cross is very committed to its mission statement. In the past couple of years with the huge natural disasters they have been impeccably responsive and have given aid and help whenever it is needed. Their volunteers go above and beyond the duties they are asked to perform. The mission statement is strong and to the point and simply states their main values that are always performed no matter what emergency they are responding to.