Red Cross volunteer George Whebell along with his stepdaughter Kimmie.
It‘s a memory that Red Cross disaster management volunteer George Whebell will never forget.
Earlier this year, he was in the small community of Midland, after a tornado ripped through the town only a few days before. He was doing recovery needs assessments in a trailer park. The first clients he visited completely lost their home and nothing was salvageable.
“They went to the store to get something, and within 5 minutes they lost their entire home,” he said. “I can’t imagine how that would feel.”
For the past 21 years, George has been helping members of his community through tough times as a Red Cross volunteer. He first began volunteering with the blood program. After the program moved to Canadian Blood Services, George started volunteering with disaster management and as a first aid instructor at the Lindsay branch.
This year, he received a Distinguished Service Award for his dedication to Red Cross. For him, volunteering with the Red Cross has had a tremendous impact on his life.
“I deal with people who are in their most vulnerable state,” he says. “The trust that they show in people who are wearing the Red Cross is something that has affected me.”
Involvement with the Red Cross runs in George’s family. His grandmother helped open the Red Cross Wilberforce Outpost Hospital, the first one in Ontario, in 1922.
He says it’s the people who have made the Red Cross what it is.
“The Red Cross has collected a really fun bunch of people.”