Northeast Tennessee Volunteer Spotlight, Brenda Mullins - October 2017

During the evacuations from Hurricane Irma, our chapter opened a shelter at the University Parkway Baptist Church in Johnson City.  Brenda Mullins was the shelter manager for the entire 8 days the shelter was open.  Although she previously had deployed to 15-20 disasters, this was Brenda’s first experience as a shelter manager.

As people drove north escaping the wrath of Irma, they called Red Cross Chapters along the way and were eventually referred to our shelter.  There was an average of 20 people staying in our shelter each day.  The families were from either Florida or Georgia.  Most families returned to their homes when their communities cleared them for reentry.  Brenda says there were a variety of family groups – one was a single mom with 5 children in need of an economical place to stay and greatly appreciated the food, shelter and space for the children to play.  An older couple – both in wheelchairs – were ready to relocate and a local agency for individuals with disabilities was able to help them make Tennessee their home!

When asked about her past volunteer experiences with the Red Cross, Brenda states it all started 38 years ago when her son was beginning kindergarten at West View School in Kingsport.  Her first volunteer assignment was as a Red Cross Clinic worker in his school.  From there, she began teaching First Aid/CPR Classes, which she loved.  For 5 years Brenda worked as a staff member for the chapter as Health and Safety Director, coordinating all the health and safety classes taught in businesses and the community.  

Brenda says her favorite volunteer experience of all has been her deployments on disasters.  She has worked in a variety of functions but her favorite is Transportation.  When assigned as an ERV driver in Nashville for a disaster some years ago, she volunteered to help the Transportation Manager who needed some extra manpower.  She loved it – she says if it has wheels they manage it – trucks, cars, ERVs and anything else needed to enable the volunteers to fulfill their mission to help the disaster victims.    

When asked what advice she would give a volunteer just beginning their career with Red Cross, Brenda says two things: Be Flexible and Remember the Mission of the Red Cross.  Do not let yourself get caught up in petty details, the occasional misunderstanding, or something you did not expect. Particularly in disasters things do not always go exactly as planned.  Always keep your eye on why you are volunteering and who you are helping.  This advice has brought Brenda through 38 years of Red Cross work and she expects many more.