Guest Post by Kathryn Dunmore, Red Cross Blogger
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.
Not only has Canadian Red Cross volunteer Jennifer Duke Holmes been able to support the Red Cross as a
disaster management volunteer, but she has also used her expertise in film production to capture the Red Cross on video.
Most recently, Jen played an important role during the Toronto ice storm as the roaming shelter manager for the Toronto area, which included 12 shelters.
“I was a Disaster Response Team (DRT) position and my role was to provide support to shelter leads, be lead contact for city staff, and relay the activities in the field to the DRT,” she explained.
Jen first started volunteering with Red Cross in 1997 for the International Humanitarian Law program. She responded to the 1998 ice storm and 1999 Kosovo Crisis in a logistical role. While getting her degree in disaster management in 2013, she became the Volunteer Operational Lead in Peel (Greater Toronto Area) for Red Cross.
Jen has used her skills as an Emergency Response Team leader, helping to establish shelters, coordinating volunteers and staff at multiple shelter sites, and maintaining communications with field teams to resolve any issues.
Jen manages her own disaster management film company, Hybrid Intuition Media, and whenever she gets a chance, she brings her video camera on deployments to capture the scenes and individuals who ensure help gets to those who need it.
“I realized disaster and emergency management has such impact on communities and it was something I could help with so going back to school to learn more about that was a no-brainer,” she said. “As an artist, I saw an opportunity to truly help make an impact in the local community, my community, as well as globally.”
One of her
videos, taken from the volunteer perspective of assisting in the Timmins fires in 2012, was used in a Walmart campaign to help raise more than $1 million for the Red Cross Disaster Management efforts to continue to serve communities in times of emergency.