By Doug Bardwell, American Red Cross volunteer

September 8, 2020- The American Red Cross is the nation’s top volunteer organization, according to LinkedIn.com. Each year, LinkedIn tallies those companies with the highest number of monthly volunteers. The Red Cross now proudly sits at #1 among these top 10 volunteering organizations of 2020, surpassing other organizations like the Crisis Text Line and Toastmasters International.

Digging into the statistics, LinkedIn data states that people under age 25 are the most likely to list volunteering activities, relative to their overall share in total membership. People over age 55 are least likely.

Maybe those over 55 aren’t listed, but as I look around the Northern Ohio Region of the Red Cross, I consistently see dozens (if not hundreds) of silvers and golden-agers actively engaged. My guess is that they just don’t have profiles on LinkedIn and, consequently, if they were added, they would rank even higher. (Well, maybe not higher than first place.)

What does the Red Cross offer volunteers?

Fortunately, the Red Cross has something for anyone and everyone. If you can only help sporadically, we’ve got random opportunities or shifts you can select whenever the opportunity presents itself. Volunteer opportunities are also available across Northern Ohio, with chapters from Ashtabula to almost the Indiana line.

If you enjoy traveling, Red Cross deploys disaster workers across the entire country. Conversely, if you’re a homebody, we have virtual opportunities as well. I just assisted on Hurricane Laura while sitting home in my office.

Red Cross provides training for most of their positions, from personal to professional development. Free classes are available from disaster response to diversity training to services to the armed forces. Or maybe your interests lie within human resources, public affairs or the biomedical field. Within just hours, you could learn enough to be providing valuable assistance taking temperatures or greeting people at blood drives or disaster shelters.

Why volunteer?

The reasons to volunteer are endless. Some volunteer to pass the time. Some look for comradery. While still others are looking to gain experience that might lead to other opportunities.

Whatever the reason for volunteering, once a volunteer meets someone down on their luck and are able to offer comfort, food and shelter, they’’ll be forever touched.

Meet the team

Volunteer recruitment and engagement for our region is handled by Gail Wernick, regional volunteer services officer, Melanie Collins, senior volunteer recruitment specialist and Debra Kellar, senior engagement specialist. Thanks to them and their counterparts across the country, the Red Cross took this top honor.

“I realize our efforts around volunteers require an all-hands on deck effort and genuine commitment from leadership,” said Mike Parks, our Regional CEO. “That said, these three staff members live and breathe the recruitment and engagement of volunteers every hour of every day…thank you!  Keep up the great work—it’s not only recognized but greatly appreciated.”

How about you? Are you ready to help make a difference? Or do you know a friend or relative who has what it takes to be a great volunteer? Get started on our volunteer recruitment page and find out where your or your friend’s talents could be best utilized

Edited by Glenda Bogar, American Red Cross volunteer

Disaster struck the Gulf Coast three years ago

By Todd James, Executive Director, American Red Cross of North Central Ohio

August 25, 2020- Note: At the time of this posting on Tuesday, August 25, the third anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Harvey, Tropical Storm Laura was expected to gain major hurricane strength and target the same area along the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday morning, August 27.   

Three days before Hurricane Harvey would make landfall, I returned home from a 10 day deployment in Hopkinsville, KY. The small town of a couple of thousand was the point of totality for the recent total eclipse and expected an influx of up to 300,000 visitors to witness the event, putting a severe strain on local resources in the case of an emergency. I had been home for a few days when I got the call to head to Houston. The next day, all travel into the area was suspended because of the storm. I was diverted to Baton Rouge, where American Red Cross teams were staging to deliver supplies and help when the conditions were safe to travel.

Austin City Limits

In Baton Rouge, hundreds of Red Cross responders waited and prepared as Harvey continued to batter Texas and Louisiana. In total, 60 inches of rain flooded Texas and Louisiana with 33 trillion gallons of water, creating unprecedented flooding and destruction. As the storm ended, I headed to Texas. But instead of Houston, I was sent to Austin to support the response. Thousands of families had been driven from the Gulf Coast and were headed north seeking safety, many to the Austin area. 

I arrived in Austin and met the Public Affairs team I would be leading. Our job was to communicate critical information about what help was available, where to find safe shelter and to let the American people know how they could support our efforts. 

Harvey was my 21^st deployment, but it was the first time I’ve seen our team set up a mega-shelter for more than a thousand people. In just a few days, a large, empty warehouse was turned into a clean, safe shelter for hundreds of families with a kids play area, tented shelters and an area for pets, an internet café, showers, a cafeteria, a medical area and other amenities to give displaced families the best care possible. It was an amazing effort!  And that was just a small part of the work done in response to this disaster. 

The Red Cross moved quickly to address people’s immediate needs after Hurricane Harvey with thousands of trained workers supporting emergency relief efforts by: 

• providing more than 414,800 overnight shelter stays with partners
• serving over 4.5 million meals and snacks with partners
• making more than 127,000 health and mental health contacts
• distributing more than 1.6 million relief items

providing more than $345 million in financial assistance to hundreds of thousands of households

 Little Ol’ Band from Texas        

There are a hundred stories to tell from this deployment. One of my favorites is the day my partner and I visited several shelters in the rural areas that were hit by the storm. One town we visited was LaGrange, TX. Being a rock n’ roll fan, I couldn’t head into town without playing LaGrange by ZZ Top at a very loud volume. Luckily, my partner was a fan too!

I spent 10 days in Austin, working with dedicated, passionate people doing all they could to give these families a sense of safety, comfort and hope while getting ready for the recovery effort to come. I didn’t know it then, but I would very soon be part of that effort.

Edited by Glenda Bogar, American Red Cross volunteer

By Eric Alves, American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

August 21, 2020- For the past six months, we have faced a new reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have learned to make kitchen tables into offices and classrooms, learned to celebrate birthdays by standing in our front yards and wave as well-wishers drive by and we have even learned to make wearing masks when shopping or eating at a restaurant our new normal. However, one thing that has not changed, despite the pandemic – disasters do not stop, which means the American Red Cross will be there to support residents and communities affected.

This year’s disaster season has already been historically active. In any year, this is a cause for concern, but with a pandemic, the stakes are increased as the logistics are more difficult and there is an extra layer of safety that needs to be taken into consideration.

John Lavelle: “The tall building is our headquarters, the stained glass window is by Grant Wood, this is one of Cedar Rapids pride and joys.”

While the Red Cross continues to follow CDC guidelines, as well as implementing addtional protocols to keep disaster workers and residents safe, it is thanks to our selfless volunteers that we can continue to perform our mission.

Last week, a derecho devastated parts of Iowa. To assist with the Red Cross response, the Northern Ohio Region deployed 5 disaster volunteers. One of the volunteers that deployed was John Lavelle. John is from Avon Lake and a member of the North Central Ohio Chapter.

While in Iowa, John provided his thoughts and observation on the Red Cross’ disaster response:

“The area of disaster is so large that my job is to go out and find people that need help. We get connected that people have been given no assistance and my task is to go out and find them. I’m mostly working with isolated trailer parks and the destruction to them is immense. We find people living in tents and our immediate objective is to get them housing.”

Are you healthy and willing to travel, when necessary, to lend a helping hand? Visit redcross.org/volunteertoday for more information and to apply to become a volunteer.

Are you unable to deploy but you have an interest to help local communities and residents in need? Don’t worry! We have positions like blood donor ambassador that will allow you to spread the Red Cross’ mission and help others while being close to home.