Volunteer Profile: Krystal Kayne

Every week, the Canadian Red Cross is going to profile one of its heroic volunteers from Manitoba and Nunavut.

We are starting this new series by meeting a volunteer from Brandon who has given her time to help people dealing with disasters both in Manitoba and in other parts of Canada.

Krystal Kayne, who is currently working on her Masters of Rural Development at Brandon University, has been a disaster response volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross for nearly a year. Her current role is as an Emergency Response Team supervisor in the western Manitoba region.

Krystal has also been trained to serve as a safety and well-being case worker, a role she played when she was deployed in the summer of 2017 to the Ottawa region to assist with the Red Cross flooding response in that area.

“I work alongside such an amazing and diverse team,” she said about the various other Red Cross volunteers with which she has worked. “I feel very proud that together we are building relationships and the capacity of our communities.”

The Canadian Red Cross is looking for other people to become heroes and join our team of volunteers. Using herself as an example, Kayne notes that anyone can be a hero by joining the Red Cross as a volunteer to help people in need.
“I am far from the perfectly-skilled or experienced member of my community but I am dedicated and love helping where I can,” she said.

“The Red Cross is focused on helping families and communities through a disaster and you are part of the team that provides comfort. You are given so many opportunities to bring in the skills you have and to build on them through the training and hands-on experience you get each time you are called. Plus, if you want, there are opportunities to travel to help communities in or out of country.”

Anyone interested in joining the Canadian Red Cross to be a volunteer, like Krystal, is encouraged to go to www.redcross.ca/HeroesWantedMB or email MBvolunteer@redcross.ca.