Names & notes

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Red Cross sponsors billboard sighting contest

Clear Channel Outdoor Co. has donated billboard space to the Southern Maryland chapter of the American Red Cross, and the nonprofit organization wants your help to find them.

The group has launched the "Where in the World is the American Red Cross in Southern Maryland?" contest, asking members of the public to keep an eye out for the donated ads in all three counties in the region. To report a sighting, provide the road and the location number, a six-digit serial number on the billboard frame. Digital photographs are also acceptable submissions.

The first person to report each billboard will receive a personal emergency preparedness kit, while all participants will receive a Red Cross utility bag. The grand prize for most reported sightings is a package of Red Cross-themed gifts.

Sightings can be e-mailed to BobG@SOMDRedCross.org through Nov. 13.

Paid Red Cross employees and their immediate family members are ineligible but volunteers are encouraged to participate.

Southern Maryland chapter CEO Mike Zabko knows how many billboards there are, but isn't telling. A press release stated he lauded Clear Channel for stepping up to help promote the "Change a Life. Be Changed," campaign locally. The national campaign urges Americans to contribute time, money and blood.

"Change a life, starting with your own," Zabko explained. "Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation or first aid. Donate blood. Donate time. You're going to be changing a life. It's going to be your own, No. 1, but you never know when you're going to be able to use CPR training and safe a life or donate blood and save three lives."

Clear Channel Outdoor is the world's largest billboard company with 200,000 signs in the United States, according to the release.