I spent my night at Disaster Services meetings for the Red Cross. As many of your know already, I am the Vice Chair of Disaster services meaning I help coordinate a team of 70+ volunteers that will be the ones you rely on when the big earthquake hits ;-) Even if you aren't in SLC, you can find a lot of our volunteers across the country assisting on disasters wherever needed. I couldn't be more proud of our volunteers, I get the warm fuzzies often when I hang out at the chapter office. Of the entire team, there are only 2 people who get paid for their roles and are full time ARC employees, one full and one part time. It's pretty amazing. I say amazing a lot when talking about ARC.
Tonight I got an update on Haiti Relief here locally. The numbers aren't official yet for the number of donated dollars that have come in through our chapter, but we are still receiving donations daily- just today was $5K- and some businesses are still making large donations through our office. It really is amazing. Money aside, we have also had almost 200 new volunteers apply, 70 some are already in training, and I can't wait to get those people working! In the wake of the Haiti response, I want to first thank everyone I know who donated and also mention (warning: PSA) that the local Red Cross chapters respond to disasters in your neighborhood every day with assistance to residence so please remember the ARC in your donations of time and money :)
The amount of time and energy that the disaster services time puts into preparedness, training, and response should make everyone rest a little easier at night. Last month at the meeting the power went out, the alarm when off, and you could tell you were in a room full of disaster volunteers because no one acted like anything had even happened, the show went on once it was confirm there was nothing to worry about. As Vice Chair, I love my job, but man do I miss being on a disaster action team and responding to calls! I went through the ranks of being a member, an assistant team lead, a team lead, and now VC, but if there is something I really miss it is being out there and helping people 1-on1. I still get some exposure to large events and read the incident reports from every one, but better than the warm fuzzies that come from hanging out at the chapters are the ones you get when someone thanks you for your help. Being a steward of the donated dollar really does kick ass! I feel like I have the easiest job of the group right now since I'm not getting the middle of the night phone calls to go help strangers. After my term is up I might just go quietly back to the bottom of the food chain -or- switch it up completely and get my public health training and volunteer at the First Aid stops at local events. Only time will tell.
I'm not sure what organizations all my friends out there in cyberspace work with or donate to, but I would love to hear stories. I don't see myself staying with ARC forever and I'd love to hear about some other great experiences to be had.
