Red Cross Stories (Page 10)

Travis Price never imagined his life could be transformed by a simple act of kindness. But one moment did change him forever into a champion of bullying prevention.
 
Price recalled the day that altered his life while visiting Calgary recently for Bullying Awareness Week. Now a Canadian Red Cross ambassador, Price told local students that he was in Grade 12 in Nova Scotia when he and a friend, David Shepherd, intervened because a younger boy was being bullied in school for wearing a pink shirt.

Dr. Gwendolyn Pang, Secretary General of the Philippine Red Cross, recently paid us a visit at Canadian Red Cross offices in Ontario and British Columbia, where she reaffirmed the strong partnership formed with us in the wake of the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan which struck her country two years ago.

When her sister was jailed in Iran, a British Columbia woman worried it would be years before she heard from her again. In 2011, foreign relatives weren’t allowed to communicate with Iranian prisoners and Nasrin felt desperate every day, wondering how her sister, Nooshin, was managing after her arrest for involvement with the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education in Iran. But a year later, she was thrilled to discover the Restoring Family Links program run by Canadian Red Cross would be able to help deliver mail to Nooshin in jail.

A lawyer from rural Manitoba, John MacAulay’s hard work and dedication led him to become a leader in the Red Cross movement — even accepting a Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Red Cross.

After volunteering with the Canadian Red Cross for 25 years, Carole Campbell has seen the organization grow in Manitoba and says she has grown with it.

When pre-election violence broke out in Burundi in April, volunteers with the Burundi Red Cross were among the first to respond. The protests led to a number of casualties, and forced more than 96,000 people to seek safety in neighbouring countries.

Two years after severe flooding damaged thousands of properties across southern Alberta, the repairs on Chuck Shifflett’s historic High River home are nearly complete. But, like many in the hardest hit regions, Shifflett and his neighbours are still recovering from the disaster. Down his street, four homes were eventually torn down, and just two were rebuilt so far.

The Canadian Red Cross continues to offer a range of programs and services to people affected by the floods in 2013. This includes Red Cross funding for Samaritan’s Purse, Habitat for Humanity, Mennonite Disaster Services and World Renew to help dozens of families in High River and the Calgary area as they rebuild or repair their homes.

It's funny how the body instinctively becomes attuned to aftershocks.  When I first arrived in Nepal, I wasn't sure what to expect and it was only after experiencing a few that I began to recognize the telltale signs of a tremor.  It could be external factors, like dogs barking crazily for no reason, or the birds suddenly going silent. Or it could be the sensation of a subtle rocking motion causing one to lock eyes with someone nearby to confirm that the ground is, in fact, moving.