Summer 2014 By Emma G.

Brown, Communications Intern

The Pillowcase Project
Students in third to fifth grade in both traditional
school classrooms and after-school programs remain
the primary target of the program due to the age
groups excitement for learning and strong willingness
to communicate and share messages to loved ones,
promoting preparedness within families and other
networks.
The Pillowcase Project provides the opportunity for
children and their families and friends to build
hazard-specific prevention, awareness, and
preparedness skills, increase coping skills to manage
emergencies, raise household prevention levels, and
formally implement preparedness education into the
elementary school curriculum. It meets many
performance expectations for the Common Core Math
and Language Arts Standards and Next Generation
Science Standards for grades 3-5.
Encouraging youth to become advocates for emergency
preparedness and coping skills through the program
enhances awareness of the issue, increases confidence
in emergency situations, and strengthens a sense of
community.
The American Red Cross NEPA Region introduces
The Pillowcase Project, a nationwide pilot program
with a vision of teaching kids to be prepared for any
disaster and to teach empowerment through a series
of age-appropriate activities. The Pillowcase Project
originated in the American Red Crosss Southeast
Louisiana Chapter in New Orleans as a response to
the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Students of Loyola University utilized pillowcases to
carry their belongings during emergency
evacuations. The event inspired the Red Cross team
to collaborate with an art therapist to develop a
program in which children affected by the Katrina
disaster decorated pillowcases to hold their valuables
in order to mentally and physically prepare for future
emergencies. The program later evolved into a
preparedness education program for elementary
school students, introducing meteorological and
geological hazard concepts, emergency safety
approaches, and coping skills to deal with stress and
anxiety during emergency situations.
Early in 2013, Disney became a sponsor of The
Pillowcase Project, enabling the program to build on
its success and expand and permeate throughout the
Red Cross chapters across the United States, as well
as on an international level.
The vision of The Pillowcase Project aims to create a
generation of children dedicated to understanding
the science behind hazards, committed to practicing
emergency preparedness, and motivated to share
safety related lessons with family and friends to
ensure a prepared community.
Children are provided with pillowcases in which to
decorate the exterior with pictures and words of item
reminders that they both would need in an
emergency and want while away from home. The
pillowcases also allow children to physically place
their valuables inside to act as an emergency kit.
At the heart of the framework of The Pillowcase
Project, lies the Learn, Practice, Share structure of
the program. It provides youth with a simple
approach to learn how a specific emergency occurs
and the best ways to stay safe, while also
incorporating practice of what to do during the
emergency, and sharing the learned behavior and
knowledge to loved ones in the child's household and
community.
The Red Cross team utilizes two approaches to
handle stress and anxiety in emergencies of all kinds:
Breathing with Color and Symbol of Strength. By
providing youth with more than one tactic, it allows
them to determine which works best for them
individually.
The Pillowcase Program additionally focuses on
home fire preparedness by stressing the importance
of concepts such as smoke alarms, fire escape plans,
fire drills, crawling to safety, and evacuating quickly.
Fires remain one of the most common disasters
throughout the United States.
Through the programs geographically customizable
capability, regions have the ability to select hazards
specific to the area to educate students. Examples
include earthquakes, floods, home fires, hurricanes,
thunderstorms, tornadoes, tsunamis, wildfires,
winter storms, and volcanoes.
For further information on The Pillowcase Project in
the NEPA Region, please contact Gail Toscano, Direct
Services Support Manager, at (570) 476-3896 or
email Gail.toscano@redcross.org. In addition, The
American Red Cross welcomes volunteers interested
in participating in The Pillowcase Project as project
presenters and other positions. To get involved,
please contact your local Red Cross chapter
or visit redcross.org and search Volunteer
Opportunities. Those interested may also directly
contact Volunteer Services Manager, Susan
Kahlkhuis-Beam, at (484) 403-4718 or email
volunteerservices.NEPA@redcross.org.