April 6-12 is National Volunteer Week. Meet some of the inspiring Red Cross volunteers who help us fulfill our mission in communities across Canada.
Rose Thompson, a volunteer with the London branch, knows how to throw a party. Last summer, the White Oaks Walmart store in London exceeded its Red Cross fundraising goal, due in large part, to Rose’s efforts. As a final campaign push, Rose organized a carnival extravaganza with games, prizes, food, live music and firefighters offering tours of their fire truck.
Rose’s efforts for the Red Cross extend far beyond fundraising and party planning. As a member of the London
Disaster Management (DM) team, Rose has been deployed four times in two years, including a deployment to Calgary this past summer.
Rose wears many hats at the branch. In addition to her work with DM, she is an integral part of many of the volunteer events including Red Cross Volunteer Day, the annual Walmart campaign and many other community outreach events. Rose has also recently pioneered agreements with local animal shelters to house pets in times of disasters because as she explained, “when our clients suffer, quite often their family pets suffer equally.”
Rose is a true example of a volunteer who embodies the spirit of the Red Cross and she urges all volunteers to shape their daily lives around the
seven fundamental principles.
“I’d be hard pressed to name any other organization that has enlightened life and has given me so very much more than I could ever return in kind,” Rose explained, adding that taking the fundamental principles to hearts allows one to “truly understand what it is that ‘makes the difference’ in someone’s life, especially during a disaster.”
For more information on volunteering with Canadian Red Cross, visit
www.redcross.ca/volunteer.