What a crazy past few weeks it has been for the American Red Cross. The Hurricanes just kept coming but the response locally and nationally have made me so proud to be a member of the American Red Cross family!
We had the ability to provide deployment opportunities for several of our chapter members. They included Valerie Bates, Tyler Duke, Matt Shumate, David Martin, Meaghan Smith, Loran Newton, Mary Poland (who is on her second deployment assignment during this hurricane season) and our own Disaster Manager (Heather Carbajal) is currently being relocated to the Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. I know there are so many more of our chapter volunteers who would have also gladly gone to Texas, Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico, etc. if work and family schedule would have allowed.
I wanted to share some of the story of Mary Poland’s first-time deployment experience which recently occurred during this hurricane season. As can sometimes be the case, her experience was a frustrating one. She was first deployed and assigned to Dublin, GA. and then eventually was reassigned to Augusta, GA. Once she arrived on scene, it became apparent that the shelter sight (and the region as a whole) was not as organized as they needed to be. The local chapter was struggling to figure out how to utilize the volunteers that had arrived on site to assist with the disaster operations response. Mary felt like she was given a different answer from the DR leadership every time she would ask questions in regard to her role of service. Needless to say, it was not the kind of experience she had hoped to have for her first experience on deployment!
However, I’ll never forget the conversation I had with Mary a couple weeks back as she was preparing to return home. She shared with me first-hand about her ongoing struggles and frustration with her first assignment and how she would be returning home earlier than she hoped because of them. Then she said something that caught me completely off guard and really impacted me. She said she couldn’t wait to get back home to our local chapter and serve as a volunteer again because she was going to serve harder and more passionately than ever before! Mary’s experience of being with another region/chapter during the disaster response made her realize even more her passion for her home chapter in Mid-West TN. She said it became clear to her that our chapter needs to have as many deeply committed and trained volunteers as possible so that we would be able to step up in the case of a local disaster and be as organized as possible if outside assistance was made available to us. She told me that her new objective was to deepen her commitment and level of training in the Mid- West chapter when she returned to TN. and she couldn’t wait to get back and get started on it!
What a positive (and persistent) attitude Mary! We are so proud of you for being a strong example of an American Red Cross volunteer. Now, let’s all learn from Mary’s example and do all we can to prepare as individuals and as a chapter family to be prepared and “ready when the time comes!”
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