Volunteering (Page 24)

After graduating from the nursing program at Queens University, Nicole Edwards made some surprising discoveries about community health. Nicole had just returned to her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was seeking ways to occupy her free time while she looked for a job.  She applied to volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, and was assigned the role of Community Health Transportation volunteer with the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living program.

Mohammed Sunba shares his experiences of volunteering with the Red Cross: he started nearly two years ago to support people who have been impacted by personal disasters, such as house fires and floods. The Alberta fire response is the largest disaster Mohammed has been a part of as a Red Cross volunteer.

At the Wood Buffalo Regional Library, Librarian Nicole Greville meets with a group of Fort McMurray residents to practice English conversation over coffee and snacks.
 
It’s been more than two months since the ESL group last met and the room is abuzz with conversation. After all, there’s a lot to catch up on.

Red Cross volunteer Nicole Beauchamp, her husband Robert, and their family have long served their community and country. Beauchamp has been with Red Cross for 20 years and spent part of her summer assisting Alberta fire evacuees, first in Edmonton in May and then again in Calgary in June and July. 

Aileen Park, an Alberta fires evacuee, is an artist. Over the last five years, she has made thousands of tiny blown-glass hearts that she gives to strangers in the hopes that they will bring a smile to someone’s face. These small Pocket Hearts are a symbol of human connection and are meant to be shared and passed along. More recently the hearts have been given to people facing hardships or as a thank you for the generosity from others around her. Her little tokens of hope and solidarity are now spread across every continent.

​There is an unlikely friendship -  Alzinia Pailin is an American Red Cross volunteer from California and Marie Bernatchez is a French speaking Canadian Red Cross volunteer from Quebec. But after being paired together on a three-week deployment in the small town of Lac La Biche, south of Fort McMurray, as part of the Alberta fire response, the two women found much common ground including their work as Red Cross volunteers and quickly became friends.

The Canadian Red Cross is recognizing our 120^th anniversary through a new online platform. The project, celebrating 120 years of helping those in need, highlights important moments in our history through significant events and stories displayed on an interactive timeline.  Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with veteran Red Cross volunteer, Ted Itani, to talk about Red Cross history and one item in particular that connects our Red Cross stories: a model landmine.

On May 3^rd, Anita Blanchette made a promise to her husband as they drove away from home in Fort McMurray, with massive flames chewing up the countryside just 200 metres away: “I told my husband ‘I don’t think we will have a home to come back to. If we do have a home when we return, I will be giving back’,” she said, tearing up.
After returning to her miraculously intact house, Anita kept her promise: she is now giving back as a Red Cross volunteer on Hardin St.