Victoria Gauthier is a disaster management volunteer in Ottawa, Ontario. She explains why she will be on call to assist families in need this holiday season and why being a Red Cross volunteer is one of the most rewarding things she has done. She wrote the following as a Facebook post to her friends and family. She's agreed to let us share it here on the Red Cross Talks blog.
I’m not sure how many people know that I am a Personal Disaster Assistance volunteer with the Red Cross in Ottawa, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the amazing work I get to do, and how you can support a very worthy cause.
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Victoria during a recent poinsettia delivery, an annual Red Cross fundraiser in the Ottawa region.
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As an alternate lead on my team, I have the responsibility to carry a pager with me 24 hours a day for 7 days, once every six weeks during my team's rotation. That means my pager hangs out in the bathroom when I shower, it sleeps beside me in my bed, it's on my desk when I'm at work, in my pocket in the car...you get the picture. When a fire happens in the city I answer the page and activate my team to respond. Hot summer day or cold winter night, our team jumps out of bed, or steps away from whatever it is we were doing, to assist people in a really devastating time of need.
We provide comfort (something firefighters are too busy extinguishing flames to do), and reassurance that someone will be there to take care of them. For folks with nowhere to go, we put them up in a hotel. We make sure that anyone affected is fed and warm. The clients we serve are often in shock, don't really know where to turn, and aren't expecting strangers to show up and help guide them through the next few awful hours, and following days. It is by far the most rewarding thing I have ever had the opportunity to do with my time.
One thing I think people are often surprised to find out when I talk about the work I do in this capacity is how often house fires occur here in Ottawa. Our teams can expect to be called out at minimum once per week on each of our rotations. Sometimes it's a lot more than that.
My next on-call shift starts on December 23rd and runs until December 30th. This means that given the chaos of the holidays (drinking, cooking, parties of all kinds), I'm looking at a very good chance I will have to tell my family I love them, and thank them for understanding why it is that I do this, and excuse myself from the many Christmas activities that will be taking place to go help another family, or individual, in need.
The Canadian Red Cross has just launched their annual holiday campaign that helps raise much needed funds to support our domestic disaster assistance programs. I couldn't do the amazing work I am privileged to do if it wasn't for money we raise through campaigns like this one.
I invite you all to consider spreading a bit of cheer by donating to this fantastic cause this holiday season!
Contribute to the Canadian Red Cross holiday giving campaign: https://www.redcross.ca/donate