Mid-West Tennessee Volunteer of the Month, Mike Owen - April 2018

Our Volunteer of the Month for April is Mike Owen. Mike has been in Emergency Services Communications for many years- as well as a First Responder at many levels. He now serves as the Commander of the Tennessee Special Operations Team, where 45 volunteer members of different disciplines specialize in advanced and technical Search and Rescue methods throughout the state.

Mike is currently serving the chapter through DST, Logistics, DAT and anywhere else there may be a need. He joined the chapter in November of 2017 after having several discussions with Travis Smith- a fellow volunteer. Mike had known Travis outside of the Red Cross and began discussing several different things related to disasters and response. Travis hoped that Mike would bring his skills and experience from past deployments (non- Red Cross) to the chapter in order to help the chapter better serve the community. Mike shared that he was ignorant of the actual work the Red Cross does in local communities and is excited that he now gets the opportunity to serve in the trenches alongside volunteers like Travis.

Mike’s favorite part of serving in this chapter has been working with the Disaster Services team. He likes being able to help the community in times of need as well as educating the community through the fire safety campaigns and preparedness programs. His favorite memory with the Red Cross occurred during the Logistics weekend training held in Chattanooga, TN a couple months back. He fondly remembers how someone demonstrated the WRONG way to assemble and utilize a cot in a shelter environment! The result was NOT pretty and it still makes him chuckle to think about it.

Mike wanted to say a very genuine thank you to the staff leadership and volunteers of our Mid- West TN. Chapter that make him feel welcome and inspire him to do more. He said, “They help to push me out of my comfort zone to engage not only the staff but everyone else in a positive way.”
Those are the words of a dedicated volunteer that we are lucky to have in our chapter!