Letter from East Tennessee Executive Director, Sharon Hudson - December 2017

As this calendar year ends, I want to thank you for your time and talent.  Our volunteers are a treasure to the American Red Cross.  This has been a year like no other.  We had three historic back-to-back hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria – which caused tremendous heartbreak and destruction across affected communities, from Texas and Louisiana to Florida and other parts of the Southeast to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  The East Tennessee Chapter sprang into action, working around the clock with partners to deliver shelter, food and comfort.  Thank you!

In East Tennessee, we are blessed with the best volunteers in the country.  We are a social group who rise to the occasion for humanitarian relief.  Many of our volunteers have been working in our chapter after returning from deployment to help with our office renovation.  East Tennessee volunteers welcomed each other home by cooking meals, cleaning, organizing, and sharing their deployment stories.  I would like to give a special thank you to our facilities and fleet committee.  These volunteers have worked very hard (after deployment) to renovate our facilities and brighten our working environment – creating a wonderful place for volunteers and staff.

Please be sure to thank Louie Keeling for tackling our electrical issues to ensure our parking lot is lit, especially late at night when our Disaster Action Team (DAT) responders return from a home fire or deployment.  Ken Curry has also repaired our internal lighting fixtures to light our hallways.  Our fleet lead, Dan Bowser, has worked for several months to ensure our fleet is maintained and clean.  Our facilities committee renovated our board room with donated carpet tiles from Broadway Carpets.  Please be sure to thank our volunteer installers for carpet and floor boards: Dan Bowser, Fritz Walker, Alan Sheets, Jean Chellino, Gary Dakolios, Louie Keeling, Lloyd Pitney, and Jordan Daniel.  John Carrell has trimmed our roses and washed windows.  A big thank you to Dottie and Richard Ettensohn; they completed the tedious task of curating facility keys and designing an efficient system.  Nettie and Dave Mounger hung our collection of historical photographs in a chronological order.  Also, the United Way Young Professionals gathered one evening to finish painting hallways and bathrooms.  We are excited to have our office so inviting, and we have enjoyed the fellowship with all the volunteers.

With the electrical work complete, a fresh coat of paint, and a new logo in the lobby, we have decorated for the holiday season. Thank you to Donna Keeling who decorated our donated nine-foot Christmas tree in our lobby…it’s gorgeous!  Donna also worked with Barbara Morgan and Marty Pryor to decorate a Christmas tree for the Red Cross in McGhee Tyson Airport.

Once again, thank you for your dedication to our humanitarian mission.  I am very proud and honored to represent the Red Cross East Tennessee Chapter.  Together, we are making a lasting difference for people in our chapter, communities down the street, across the county and around the world.

Happy Holidays,
Sharon Hudson