In celebration of March Is Red Cross Month, we’re honouring Helena Hardwick, who left her remote prairie ranch to volunteer overseas as an ambulance driver during the Second World War.

To combat stigma, particularly against those who have survived the Ebola virus, the Red Cross is using music and television to spread messages of anti-discrimination.

Five years ago, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti impacting millions of lives, and leading to the largest single-country emergency response in Red Cross history. Today, the work continues through long-term projects to support communities on their path to recovery.

Recently, Canadian Red Cross volunteer and photographer Johan Hallberg-Campbell travelled to Haiti to document that progress. His work, Haiti five years on: An Fòm!, is a stunning collection of images of some of the people and places that tell the story of Haiti’s recovery. 

It's hard to believe that 2014 has very nearly come to a close. Nostalgia has officially kicked in and we’ve started to reminisce over all the notable events that occurred in the last twelve months. While many top 10 lists focus on the newsworthy stories from pop culture, sports and science, we thought we’d also take a minute to look back at the year in Red Cross Talks posts. So, without further ado, here are our ten favourite posts of 2014 in no particular order. 

Nawaf was three years into a challenging five-year bachelor’s degree in computer and information engineering in Damascus when the ongoing Syrian conflict forced him to put his dreams on pause. His family had already fled the country some 18 months before, but Nawaf, 24, and the oldest of seven siblings, stayed behind.

Today, December 5, marks International Volunteer Day, an annual opportunity to highlight the contributions that volunteers across the globe are making each and every day.
 

Martha Gutierrez knows the importance of the Canadian Red Cross’ Mobile Food Bank, better than almost anyone. Seventeen years ago, Martha and her family were refugees to Canada. She, her two young children and her husband fled their home in Mexico to seek safety after political turbulence.

Last month, we told the story of Muggins, the famous Canadian Red Cross fundraising dog from Victoria, British Columbia.
During the First World War, he raised more than $21,000 (about $400,000 now), just trotting around town alone with two donation boxes on his back. He often visited ferries and freightliners arriving in Victoria, and grew so famous that overseas visitors would ask for the little white Spitz dog. When Muggins eventually died in 1920, his body was preserved by a professional taxidermist, and that is where the story seemed to end last time. But now we’ve uncovered more clues!