Ottawa volunteer Barb Trant has dedicated 14 years to the Red Cross.
Barb Trant’s first memory of the Canadian Red Cross was when she was a small child. A Red Cross homemaker would come by the house once-in-awhile to assist her mom with their busy household.
Barb never forgot that homemaker. Years later, she was looking for a place to volunteer, and joined the Red Cross as a first aid instructor. She hasn’t left since.
This year, Barb received a Distinguished Service Award for the 14 years she has dedicated to the Society. Based in the Ottawa-area, she is currently the president of Eastern Region, and chair of the International Advisory Committee. She also finds time to be a member of the Ottawa branch’s First Aid Services Team (FAST), providing first aid at events in the community, and to volunteer with disaster management.
She finds the entire Society to be an inspiration for her.
“Everyone is there for the same reason,” she says. “There is a lot of teasing and fun, but when it’s time to get down to work, we get down to work.”
One of her favourite recent memories was following the Haiti Earthquake. She was answering phones at the Ottawa branch, when a pastor from a Haitian-Canadian congregation came in to make a donation and then left. He then came back into the branch and spoke for 10 minutes to staff and volunteers about how much he appreciated the Red Cross and was sure his donation was placed into good hands.
“We all had tears by the end of the speech,” says Barb. “It was a goose bump moment for me, and one that made me glad that I was a volunteer.”