American Red Cross "Heroes Breakfast" honors supporters of Disaster Preparedness

On November 17, the American Red Cross of Los Angeles, held their second annual Heroes Breakfast at the prestigious California Club in downtown Los Angeles.  The breakfast was held to honor those businesses and individuals who have shown outstanding leadership in raising awareness for disaster preparedness in the Los Angeles area.

The fundraising event was emceed by Los Angeles Channel 11 newscaster, Christine Devine, who has been a loyal supporter of the American Red Cross and disaster relief.  Devine introduced this year's winners of the Community Heroes award.

Christine Devine, David Spade, and

Paul Shulz, CEO of the American Red

Cross of Greater Los Angeles

The honorees included former Saturday Night Live cast member, David Spade.  Spade is a dedicated supporter of the American Red Cross' effort toward disaster relief. and   was a major contributor towards the organization's tornado relief effort in the midwest and southeast of the United States, a few months ago.

Comedian and humanitarian 

David Spade

Los Angeles City (District 9) Councilwoman, 

Jan Perry

Additional honorees included Los Angeles City (District 9) Councilwoman Jan Perry, Forever 21, Panda Restaurant Group and The Walt Disney Company for their continuing support of Red Cross disaster relief efforts. 

Forever 21

Panda Restaurant Group

The Walt Disney Company

The theme for this year’s event was, “PrepareLA+”, which focused attention on the launch of our three-year campaign to engage Los Angeles in preparing for a catastrophic disaster by mobilizing support from individuals, organizations, businesses and government agencies to create more disaster resilient communities. “PrepareLA+” helps the American Red Cross to confront the need by strengthening their capacity to meet their federal mandate of feeding, sheltering, and caring for citizens of Los Angeles following a catastrophic event. 


By supporting the “PrepareLA+” initiative, this allows the American Red Cross to expand their cadre of skilled disaster volunteers, create new partnerships with communities to ensure they have the resources to support effective and immediate disaster relief and by empowering ordinary people with the lifesaving skills and preparedness education to do extraordinary things in the face of emergencies. 

PrepareLA+

Gunnar J. Kuepper, president of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Region Nine and chief of operations for the Los Angeles-based Emergency & Disaster Management, Inc. was the guest speaker at today's Heroes Breakfast. This independent agency advises private, industrial and governmental organizations worldwide on state-of-the-art emergency and disaster handling. 

2011 Sponsor companies included The Walt Disney Company, Southern California Edison, Panda Restaurant Group, Herbalife, Credit Suisse, The Rand Corporation, BP British Petroleum, Los Angeles Business Journal, Grant Thornton, Wells Fargo Bank, Acacia Wealth Advisors Zumbox and Hyde Family Foundation. 

Public Relations for the event was performed by the peakPRGroup and its CEO Christine Peake

peakPRgroup CEO Christine Peake and her son 

Oliver

Attendance by all at the breakfast demonstrated the commitment to and support of the ongoing efforts by the Red Cross and other preparedness organizations for “PrepareLA+” , an initiative to help build a stronger, better prepared and more disaster resilient community. “PrepareLA+” will ensure that the Red Cross will have the resources to prepare for and more fully respond to disasters locally.
To see how you can support the American Red Cross go to:
www.redcrossla.org

photos and text by Christine Peake, peakPRgroup