To ensure that students are fully prepared for a possible emergency, third through fifth-graders throughout the district received presentations from the American Red Cross from Dec. 4-6 to discuss the Pillowcase Project. American Red Cross volunteers with the help of Senator Todd Kaminsky, visited Clear Stream Avenue, Forest Road and Shaw Avenue elementary schools to educate students with resources on how to stay safe. 

The Pillowcase Project, sponsored by Disney, is a preparedness education program which teaches students about how their families can prepare for a natural disaster or home emergency, as well as inform them of local hazards and basic coping skills. It also encourages students to form an emergency preparedness kit out of a pillowcase where they can keep all their essentials in the case of an emergency. 

Students learned about the different items that they could put in their own pillowcases. They also engaged in the presentations by helping Red Cross volunteers demonstrate fire safety techniques such as “get low and go” and shared examples of their symbols of strength when coping in an emergency situation. 

At the conclusion of the presentations, each student received a pillowcase courtesy of the American Red Cross and were encouraged to decorate and build their own emergency supplies kit.