JetBlue Blog

Since 1943, March has been designated as Red Cross Month, a time to recognize the organization’s relief efforts both in the U.S. and across the globe. Our airline is the largest group of corporate citizens in the local Greater New York chapter, with 565 crewmembers trained by American Red Cross (ARC) as Ready Team volunteers. Rob Maruster, our Chief Operating Office also serves as chair of the chapter’s board of directors.

In honor of Red Cross Month, our Care and Emergency Response department organized some volunteer opportunities in the New York area–and 40 of our crewmembers volunteered to help last month:

• Assembled 200 Comfort Kits for communities that experience a natural disaster
• Joined the ARC phone bank (Our crewmembers made 1,200 calls to volunteers in the ARC database, and reminded them to update their profiles with information vital to volunteer managers, such as special skills and languages.)
• Repaired homes affected by Hurricane Sandy

March is Red Cross Month, designated back in 1943 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when the organization held large-scale fundraising campaign during World War II. Financial support was needed for the war, and FDR called upon the American Red Cross to lead a fundraising initiative to reach a goal of $125 million. The Red Cross reached that target and beyond, with funds totally $146 million, a campaign FDR called “the greatest single crusade of mercy in all of history.”

Every President following FDR has issued a proclamation that March is Red Cross Month, a time to recognize the organization’s relief efforts both in the U.S. and across the globe. Nearly 70,000 disasters a year require Red Cross assistance, and its volunteers mobilize to offer relief. The Red Cross also gives support to the military and their families.

The Ready Team activates during natural disasters to assist with the Red Cross’ efforts

 JetBlue and the American Red Cross

The Red Cross, formed in 1900, trains approximately 9 million Americans each year in first aid and other skills to be ready when tragedy hits. In fact, 565 of our crewmembers have been trained for the American Red Cross Ready When the Time Comes program, and our team is the largest group of corporate citizens in the Greater New York Area.  Our Chief Operating Officer Rob Maruster was named Board Chair of the American Red Cross Greater New York Region. After Hurricane Sandy, Rob appeared on an American Red Cross telethon to help raise relief funds, and discuss how our airline offered support to those impacted.

JetBlue is the largest member of the New York American Red Cross and the greater New York area is the Red Cross’s busiest region, home to more than 13 million people. Responding to approximately 2,500 local disasters annually, the group provides relief through food, shelter, and emotional support.

Learn more about our work with the American Red Cross
Meet our Care and Emergency Response team

A Day in the Life, where we take you behind the scenes at JetBlue to learn more about the important jobs that work in concert together to run a major airline. This time, we visit with Penny on our Care and Emergency Response team who has one of the most forward-thinking jobs at our airline.

The Care and Emergency Response Team: (from left to right) Athena, Christina, Kristal, Puneet, Matt and Penny

The Care and Emergency Response team falls under our Operations team, positioning it as one of the vital wings at JetBlue. The team is responsible for preparing JetBlue to effectively, compassionately and responsibly handle major crisis at the airline. Headed by Penny, who has been with JetBlue since 1999 (before we had a name or aircraft to fly), along with her five team members, Christina, Kristal, Puneet, Matt, and Athena, has built a nimble and caring team that manages thousands of crewmember volunteers to effectively plan for and mobilize around challenging times.

The team is responsible for setting up our Emergency Command Center (EEC) at our Long Island City support center, a space with 27 assigned positions that activate in times of need. The team is also in charge of planning for the 100 assigned members of the Go Team to provide incident management support on-site in the event of an aircraft incident; and the Family Support Team (FST) composed of more than 200 volunteer crewmembers based in our Salt Lake City support center trained to provide assistance to family members via phone. Every city throughout our network also has at least one trained crewmember who serves as emergency response liaison who works on their preparedness plan locally.

The Ready Team activates during natural disasters to assist with the Red Cross’ efforts

Penny’s team also ensures that all plans and procedures are updated and tested. Her team organizes a full-scale emergency drill every other year and annual tabletop drills to keep everyone fresh on protocol surrounding an emergency or major incident.

We’ve extended the purview of the Care Team to include helping one another in times of need that extend beyond our own operations. We have more than 1,200 trained Care Team members throughout our 75 city network who may be called upon at any time to travel to an area to assist where help is needed during natural disasters or other unfortunate events. In addition, we have a Ready Team made up of over 500 specially trained volunteers who activate to work with the Red Cross during natural disasters, whether or not they occur in communities that we serve. Learn more about the Ready Team and where they’ve traveled to assist others in need.

Unloading supplies to help those impacted by Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is the most recent example of our Ready and Care team activation. Penny and the Care team knew that although we had many crewmember volunteers in the New York area that many may have been impacted by the hurricane and so the team called in 40 Care volunteers from our Florida stations to assist. In addition to the partnerships we formed to assist our customers and impacted communities following the hurricane, we also set up a team to assist affected crewmembers.

The Care and Emergency Response Team’s job is to prepare for major crisis and make sure that we have the people, plans and supplies in place to activate quickly and effectively. “We like to think of ourselves as a team who needs to balance our heads and hearts,” Penny relays. “Caring is part of our DNA, it’s who we are, and it’s so rewarding to know that we’re helping to build a stronger company.”

Read Penny’s 2011 Op-Ed in the New York Times about her role at JetBlue

Check out the previous editions of A Day In The Life and meet:

• Rachel from our Airport Operations team
• Icema, Kate, Jenna and Irma from our Corporate Social Responsibility team
• Caroline, Ashley and Donny from our Product Development team
• Frank and Jerry in Technical Operations
• Kristi in Customer Support
• Rick, an Executive Coordinator for our CEO
• Chris, Lashonne and Jaclyn from  Brand Design
• Jeff and Greg from Schedule Planning
• Loretta in Security
• Chris in Inflight
• Morgan in Social Media
• Don in Air Traffic System Control
• Mike in Ground Operations
• And stay tuned for the next edition!

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been four days since Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast. For all of us, whether you were in the impact zone or far away, it’s been a very long week. Despite the circumstances we faced since Monday, or maybe because of them, we all rose to the challenge and came to each other’s aid. Much like our hometown of New York, we are resilient, capable and stand by each other through thick and thin.

Unloading supplies – water, juice and Eat Up snack boxes to aid those impacted by Sandy

While the storm has passed, the challenges continue. Many areas are expected to remain without basic services for days. We all have family, friends and colleagues in these areas; their suffering is our suffering.

Here’s what we’re doing to best assist them:

For our crewmembers:

The JetBlue Crewmember Crisis Fund (JCCF), an independent 501(c)3 already released $125,000 to crewmembers who have reported significant losses. The company is matching dollar-for-dollar all one-time donations to JCCF, to help our colleagues in dire circumstances. We also activated our CARE Team for these crewmembers to help them rebuild their lives and get them (and their families) back on their feet. We provided crewmembers reporting total losses with hotel rooms, immediate supplies such as food and clothes along with transportation – most importantly, we’ll provide them time to get their lives back in order.

For our customers:

Customers who find themselves booked for travel through November 04 can rebook without change fee or fare difference through November 14. Those who booked travel before October 28 for anytime between now and the end of the year, and find themselves unable to travel, may convert the value of their ticket to a credit, valid for one year. Of course, other individual needs will be handled on a one-on-one basis.

We partnered with our friends at Wafels & Dinges yesterday to offer hot meals to those without power. 14 additional trucks throughout areas impacted will provide free, hot snacks and meals today.

For our communities

Now, it’s our job now to help the community get back on its feet, to bring humanity back to New York and the Northeast. We will do this in big ways – not only by operating a full schedule, but by providing financial support to the JCCF (where we are matching crewmember donations dollar for dollar) and the Red Cross (where we are matching the first $50,000 UPDATE we’ve now matched the first $100,000) – and also in small ways, such as personalizing the “welcome aboard” to our customers and offering those in need a bottle of water, a bag of blue chips and even a waffle or two. We will sponsor 14 food trucks today in lower Manhattan and the Rockaways in Queens, delivering hot meals to those who have gone without for a week. Follow @NYCFoodtruck for more information and for a list of locations.

We’ve been in constant contact with city, state and federal officials to help assess the need of those hardest hit by the storm. We’ve already made donations to AmeriCares and Feed America, both of whom are here on the ground making a difference. Plus, we’ve already had a request to assist with replacing the damaged trees near our Long Island City office. There is no need too big or too small; we’ll find a way to help our community get back on its feet.

Our Care and Ready teams are working closely with local agencies to be of service. While we appreciate people wanting to help, work with you local groups, as the proper infrastructure needs to be in place in order to deliver necessary items to those in need (resources below).

Next Steps

Now that our operation is back-up and running, and the immediate and urgent needs of our crewmembers and customers are being met, we’re transitioning into the next phase of this event – the return to steady-state operations. Our ability to fly 100% of our schedule is important to the region and to you.

Dave, our CEO, is visiting Newark (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA) and JFK today to check-in first hand with crewmembers and customers, and is tweeting from the road – feel free to follow along.

Please continue to take care of yourself, your family, your colleagues and your community. We’ll keep you updated on the ongoing impact of Hurricane Sandy on our company and how we’ll continue to move forward – at 35, 000 feet!

If you’re in need of help or want to volunteer:
We’ve also heard amazing requests from you on how much you want to help donate your time or resources to the effort. We’re humbled by the caring of our customers, but also understand from our partners that there’s more to an organized relief effort than donation of time and supplies. We’d encourage those that want to lend a hand to look into the below groups and work with existing organizations to have the greatest impact.
Resources:
Time Out New York’s “How to Help Out After Sandy”
American Red Cross
NYC Service
New York Cares
New Jersey’s Volunteer Emergency Response
Boston Cares
Community Emergency Response Teams
ServeRhodeIsland.org
Team Rubicon
The Humane Society
American Humane Association

As New York’s Hometown Airline, with the bulk of our operations and our crewmembers in the New York area, the reality of a disaster this large is that there are many who are suffering significant loss. In addition to 1,500 cancelled flights (read the latest on our operational plans here), we have hundreds of crewmembers and thousands of customers who live in the region and were affected.

We understand the need to continue to help one another in every way we can. In addition to working around the clock to get our flights up and flying, we’re also extending the fee waivers for impacted customers to change or cancel flights originally booked for travel before October 28 through November 14 and beyond. Lower Manhattan, as well as parts of Queens, New Jersey, and in places along the coast, are in need of supplies. Water, extra blankets, food, and plenty of other essentials can be donated to these communities in need. See below for a list of resources should you need assistance or want to volunteer your time or resources.

We’ve teamed up with the American Red Cross and will match up to $50,000 in customer donations. You’ll also earn 6 TrueBlue points for every $1 you donate, now through 11/30/12. Donate here.

For the dozens of local crewmembers who have reported a total loss of personal property and have critical needs such as shelter, food, water and clothing, we’re supplying financial and otherwise support from our wholly independent 501(c)3 organization, the JetBlue Crewmember Crisis Fund.

Our Ready Team, or crewmembers who volunteer to work alongside the Red Cross in response to major disasters, were deployed to assist in the relief efforts in the Tri-state area. Crewmembers traveled from other JetBlue cities, including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Salt Lake City, Utah; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida, and New York to help.

We’re all in this together and are confident that we will get through this as long as we continue to look out for one another and act with caring and safety top of mind.

We partnered with our friends at Wafel & Dinges to provide a hot meal for those impacted by the hurricane around the city

Resources if you’re in need of help or want to volunteer:
Time Out New York’s “How to Help Out After Sandy”
American Red Cross
NYC Service
New York Cares
New Jersey’s Volunteer Emergency Response
Boston Cares
Community Emergency Response Teams
ServeRhodeIsland.org
Team Rubicon
The Humane Society
American Humane Association

Seven members of our Ready Team were recently deployed to Louisiana to work alongside the American Red Cross and help those affected by Hurricane Isaac. Prior to Isaac’s arrival, the team helped prepare shelters outside of Baton Rouge for pre-evacuees. In the wake of Isaac, the shelters also provided housing for those in areas where the levees – walls put into place to prevent flooding – were breached.

This week, the team has been providing much needed emotional, physical, and logistical support to over 50 residents of Raceland, Louisiana that have been displaced by severe flooding. While the days have been long, the team never became discouraged and kept on smiling to raise the spirits of those who needed support.

Learn more about the Ready Team

The American Red Cross presented JetBlue with the Corporate Leadership Award at the organization’s annual gala this week. Our COO Rob Maruster accepted the award on behalf of JetBlue, in particular the 500 crewmembers who make up our Ready Team.

Our COO Rob (middle) accepts the award on behalf of our Ready Team

Our Ready Team is the largest group in the Greater New York area, and it champions our caring value— crewmembers volunteer to work alongside the Red Cross in response to major disasters. The Ready Team has been deployed to Bismarck, North Dakota to support pending flooding, provided assistance to residents in Binghamton, NY whose homes were destroyed, created valentines for soldiers overseas, and more; just a few examples of how the Ready Team springs into action—often at a moment’s action.

The award recognizes the Ready Team’s efforts, and JetBlue’s support of the American Red Cross. The 500-strong group will grow even larger this year, with approximately 100 crewmembers scheduled to participate in trainings with the American Red Cross.

To show a little love for our country’s veterans this Valentine’s Day, our Ready Team, made up of JetBlue crewmembers who volunteer to work with the American Red Cross in its response to major disasters, hosted two “Create Cards for Soldiers” events. Crewmembers came together to create more than 500 Valentine’s Day cards and sweet treats! The team sent the finished products to the United War Veterans’ Council, which hand-delivered them to West Point, local VA hospitals throughout New York, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

It’s been an exciting year for our JetBlue Ready Team, supporting numerous volunteer efforts and making deployments across the country to help those in need. In June, the team had its first national deployment to Bismarck (a city we do not fly to), in order to support residents who were forced to flee from their homes during the Missouri River Basin elevation. In September, the team deployed again to Binghamton following Tropical Storm Irene.

Their local volunteer efforts include the American Red Cross Metro Area Drill; September 11 Memorial; ING NYC Marathon; Veterans Day parade. The team has grown to nearly 500 crewmembers, composed of volunteers from all over our network.

On December 1, the American Red Cross in Greater New York presented us with the “Corporate Community Partnership Award”! Congratulations to our Ready Team and thanks for all that you do to help those in need!

On September 10, 2011, eight members from our Ready Team – Crewmembers who volunteer their time and energy to be trained to provide care and support in emergency situations – were deployed for seven days to support the American Red Cross with numerous shelter operations that were opened up to house residents from the Binghamton, N.Y. area. These residents were forced to flee their homes that were destroyed by raging flood waters following Hurricane Irene. The team provided much-needed physical and emotional support during their 12 hour shifts while always keeping a smile on their faces. We salute our caring Ready Team Crewmembers for going above and beyond the call of duty to help those in need.