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As darkness began to settle in Nepal Tuesday night after the second earthquake hit, a newborn baby’s cry restored the spirits of a team of nine Canadian Red Cross aid workers in Khukondole.

So many friends and supporters of the Canadian Red Cross answered our call for photos showing family and friends wearing lifejackets as we marked National Lifejacket Day. 

We compiled some of the great pics shared on social media using #LifeJacketLiving and #LaVieEnGilet. 

Last week I discovered that Spam can actually taste good. Four Saskatoon Chefs battled in a Disaster Dining challenge and one even shared his recipe.

On Monday, May 11, the Canadian Red Cross participated in the fourth annual National Lifejacket and Swim Day on the Hill in Ottawa – an event that brings together Parliamentarians, injury prevention, and swimming organizations, to talk about the importance of lifejacket use in drowning prevention. 
 

National Lifejacket Day – did you even know there was such a thing?  Just before the May long weekend every year, the Canadian Red Cross works to raise awareness about the importance of wearing lifejackets. Each year, my colleagues and I wear lifejackets to work for the day to prompt conversations about drowning prevention. But being wide and busty, the ones I used to wear sat too high and barely closed.
Until recently, the truth is I hated lifejackets.  

Mon grand-père était un drôle de numéro.

Gardien de prison à la retraite, il dominait tout le monde par sa taille et prenait un malin plaisir à soumettre les gens à l’interrogatoire, surtout mes nouveaux copains.

Il avait l’habitude de toujours répéter les mêmes petites phrases, une série de conseils pleins de bon sens. À la longue, c’était devenu un sujet de plaisanterie dans ma famille. 

My grandpa was... a character.

A retired jail guard, he towered over most people and delighted in giving everyone, especially my new boyfriends, the 3^rd degree.

His catch phrases – more like a series of not-so-subtle common sense reminders – were a running family joke. At the cottage, you frequently heard his booming voice: “Close the door!” “Turn out the lights!” and, whenever we headed toward the water, “Where’s your lifejacket?”

Every year, May 8 marks World Red Cross Day to commemorate the more than 150 years of humanitarian actions by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement around the world.