'It's the idea of helping': Responding to local disasters has become a holiday tradition for two unlikely friends

On paper, Chris Sadlocha and John Rudolph couldn’t be more different.

Sadlocha is a retired elementary school teacher of 40 years and Rudolph is a former volunteer firefighter and paramedic with an interest in amateur radio. But like many Red Cross volunteers, they have one very important thing in common.

“You know, we’re helpful people,” Sadlocha laughed.

Both drawn to the American Red Cross in the hopes of making a difference in the lives of those facing

emergencies at home in Delaware and Otsego Counties and across the country, the unlikely friends paired up for the first time as Disaster Action Team (DAT) members on New Year’s Eve just four years ago.

“Responding to fires and helping people wasn’t a far spur from what I used to do,” Rudolph explained. “Chris was there to help me. We went out on my first few calls together. He’s been a giant help there.”

As DAT members, those calls regularly consist of being some of the first on the scene in the wake of a disaster – primarily home fires. Red Cross DAT volunteers like Chris and John are often some of the first to meet with families in the wake of devastating home fires and provide support to those who just lost everything.

“We’re there to try and give them some peace of mind. Some funds for food, hotel, clothing, whatever they need to get them stable and figure out the rest. Being able to be there for them in that way may seem like a small thing, but when these people are going through this, it’s something huge.”

In the 2021 fiscal year, Red Cross volunteers responded to 936 local disasters in the Western New York region – the majority of which were home fires – and provided immediate emergency assistance to more than 1,600 families. For Red Crossers like Chris and John, it doesn’t matter the time or the day as they consider themselves always “on call.” In fact, this past Thanksgiving holiday, Chris volunteered his time to answer the call – driving more than an hour to assist a family impacted by a home fire in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

“What are the pieces that drive us? You know, it’s the idea of helping,” Sadlocha explained. “I’m in a warm house, I’ve got plans maybe to go work out in the garden, take a walk, do some reading. Meanwhile, those folks down there have lost their home. They’re experiencing one of the worst days of their lives and we can provide some relief for that. So, we’ll take that drive for that.”

But as they approach another anniversary of their first response together this New Years, they both admit they could also use some help. Over the years, the pair has added considerably to their DAT duties with Sadlocha taking on roles as a Regional Onboarding Lead among others, and Rudolph now assisting DAT responses virtually as a Duty Officer while training to serve as an Emergency Response Vehicle operator on local and national responses.

Always looking to add to the DAT roster and the Red Cross volunteer base in general, the duo is encouraging others to resolve to volunteer with the Red Cross in any capacity this coming new year.

“No matter what the job is, it’s the people working together,” said Rudolph. “I have found that even in the worst cases, people find a way to deal with it and make it as enjoyable as possible.

“Probably the strongest thing I could say to persuade somebody to join the Red Cross is you can really help and provide the relief to somebody that’s having the worst day of their life,” Sadlocha explained. “It’s highly rewarding. There are volunteer positions with the Red Cross that you don’t get in a whole bunch of other places.”

To learn more about available volunteer positions, including the Disaster Action Team, visit redcross.org/volunteertoday or contact RecruitWNY@redcross.org.

Gone, but not forgotten: Red Cross of WNY volunteers to pay tribute to unclaimed WWI veterans in special ceremony Saturday

For Lisa Taibi, Regional Program Manager of Services to the Armed Forces (SAF) and International Services for the American Red Cross Western New York Region, it was an ironic intersection of personal and professional life that has provided an opportunity for the Red Cross community to honor dozens of World War I veterans who had gone unclaimed by family at their time of death.  

She and her SAF board and committee volunteers will pay tribute to those veterans by laying wreaths at 47 graves in the Riverdale Cemetery in Lewiston, Saturday, December 18, as part of the national Wreaths Across American Initiative. Additional Red Cross staff and volunteers will also recognize veterans by placing wreaths at Whitehaven Memorial Cemetery in Rochester, NY; and the National Cemetery located on the VA grounds in Bath, NY. 

The genesis of the recognition of veterans interred at Riverdale can be attributed to a huge coincidence. A resident of Niagara Falls, Taibi was actually visiting the graves of family members buried at Riverdale several years ago when she noticed a large monument just a stone’s throw away.  Investigating for the first time, she was surprised to see that it was an American Red Cross monument, along with dozens of grave markers. 

“I have family buried in Riverdale Cemetery so I'm in the cemetery often,” Taibi said.  “I walk around and look at stones not far from my family’s stones and I came across this big Red Cross monument. This was when I actually worked for the Niagara Falls chapter of the American Red Cross. I remember going back, taking a picture of it, going back to my executive director at the time, saying, ‘hey, what is this all about’”?

Neither she nor the Executive Director Chapter were able to find any information about the monument, which dated to the early 1900s.  Taibi tabled her interest for awhile to focus on the demands of her SAF duties and it was not until last spring, when the period of isolation due to Covid-19 got her thinking about how to engage her board and volunteers in a community-based project.

“We hadn’t been able to do a lot of in person things, so I was thinking about what we could do that would be outdoors for Memorial Day and it hit me - this monument popped back into my head.”

A co-worker had connections at Riverdale Cemetery and Taibi reached out to ask if there was any information on how the Red Cross got involved with WWI veteran graves and the monument. They were able to produce some limited information that documented the former Niagara Falls chapter made the purchase in the early 1900s. Apparently, the Red Cross purchased 85 gravesites, but not all are filled.

“There are 47 headstones and they list the name, the date of birth, the year they died, the branch of service they were in, and their military rank. And then, of course, this big monument explaining what these graves were,” Taibi explained.

The SAF committee embraced the opportunity to recognize the veterans.  As a Memorial Day project, they purchased flowers and flags to mark the graves, and scrubbed headstones, making a huge improvement in appearance as many burial sites appeared not to have been attended to in decades.

The Memorial Day activities and the placement of holiday wreaths symbolize the commitment of the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) program to America’s military community.  While perhaps not as widely known as the Red Cross Blood Services program or Disaster Relief services that provide assistance on national and regional levels, the Red Cross SAF program holds a congressional charter to provide the direct link of communication between the active duty service member and their family at home.

However, as Taibi states, the Red Cross commitment to military members and their families extends far beyond.

“Our mission is to support our veterans, in any way that we can. We have a continuum of care that begins the day they're sworn into active duty, throughout their military career, as they transition back into the civilian world, and we stay with that veteran until the day they die. We have volunteers that participate in the No Veteran Dies Alone program at the VA, where if there's a veteran actively dying and they have no family, we have volunteers who sit with that veteran until the veteran passes because they don't want that veteran to die alone. We truly stay with the veteran throughout their entire life, from the moment they go off to boot camp until literally the day they die.”

 

Honoring our veterans and their loved ones this Veterans Day and every day

This Veterans Day, the American Red Cross is honoring veterans and recognizing the special role that caregivers play in their care. 

While many may recognize the American Red Cross as an organization that collects and distributes blood products and responds to local and national disasters, its Service to the Armed Forces program (SAF) is a prominent and valuable asset in the wide scope of services the Red Cross provides within any given community. In fact, it was on the Civil War battlefields that American Red Cross founder, Clara Barton, embraced the vision she had for the organization as she cared for and nursed wounded soldiers. 

Today, the American Red Cross continues to serve the U.S. Military community from the time a service member takes the oath to navigating life as a veteran.

In the Western New York region alone, the Red Cross provided 3,487 case services to veterans and family members during the last fiscal year. On a global perspective, each year, the Red Cross provides more than 500,000 services to members of the military, veterans and their families across the country and around the world.

• In times of emergency, the Red Cross helps military families communicate with their loved ones and facilitates their return home through our Hero Care Network, which is available online, by phone, through a mobile app or in person, 24 hours a day.
• A variety of free resiliency workshops are offered, in person and online, to provide active military, veterans and their families with effective tools for facing challenges and stress.
• Red Cross medical and non-medical volunteers provide care, comfort and therapy items at veteran hospitals and military treatment facilities.
• Stateside the Red Cross has a presence on all military installations.  It also offers programs and services on-site at more than 140 military medical facilities and 170 veteran care facilities worldwide.   

PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR CAREGIVERS 

Serving more than 8,200 caregivers worldwide, the Military Veteran Caregiver Network (MVCN), one of many programs under the SAF umbrella, offers caregivers peer mentors, peer support groups, an online community as well as mental health, wellness and resiliency workshops. The network seeks to decrease feelings of isolation, and increase feelings of connection, hope and well-being.

The MVCN provides caregivers the ability to connect in a confidential environment that’s best for them. Our peer mentor program helps meet the specific needs of caregivers one-on-one, while peer support groups connect caregivers facing similar challenges. We offer secure online caregiver only communities to create a supportive network that is accessible without having to leave home.

In western New York, veterans and their caregivers report that the compounding effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan have created additional stressors. 

In recent months, MVCN saw an increase in the use of our Hero Care Resource Directory, which provides access to over 800 resources in every zip code in America specifically designed for veterans, service members, caregivers and their families. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO 

Many Red Cross volunteers are veterans who continue to support their communities after their active duty service ends. Also, about 6% of Red Cross employees include transitioning military or veterans – from nurses to logisticians, emergency management experts, project managers and preparedness experts, as well as a number of veterans in leadership roles at local Red Cross chapters across the country.

Tens of thousands of Red Cross volunteers also serve in Veterans Administration (VA) and military hospitals across the nation and around the world. These volunteers support such areas as rehabilitation, recreation, administration, and personal services to the men and women who are now cared for each day in these facilities. To learn more about how you can give back in your community this Veterans Day, visit redcross.org/volunteer.

This Weekend: Turn, Test and Prevent Home Fires with the Red Cross

This weekend, as we turn our clocks back in preparation of the end of daylight saving time, the American Red Cross of Western New York encourages everyone to use this time to test their smoke alarms.

Home fires are the nation's most frequent disaster and tragically take seven lives every day. That's why it's critical to take action now in order to keep you and your loved ones safe, especially since the threat of home fires increases with the holidays and colder weather.

In the past year alone, Red Cross volunteers within the region responded to nearly 900 home fires. While the Red Cross is always there in times of disaster, there are also a few simple steps that you can take this weekend to help protect your loved ones to help prevent home fires. 

During a fire, early warning from a working smoke alarm plus a fire escape plan that has been practiced regularly can save lives. As the clocks “fall back” when daylight saving time ends on Sunday, November 7, it’s also the perfect time to test your smoke alarms and replace the batteries if needed.

In addition to testing your smoke alarms this weekend, follow these three steps get your home ready:

1. Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including inside and outside bedrooms and sleeping areas.  
2. Replace smoke alarms that are 10 years or older. Components such as sensors can become less sensitive over time. Follow your alarm's manufacturer instructions.  
3. Practice your two-minute home fire escape plan. Make sure everyone in your household can get out in less than two minutes — that’s the amount of time you may have to escape a burning home before it’s too late. Include at least two ways to get out of every room and select a meeting spot at a safe distance away from your home, such as your neighbor’s home or landmark like a specific tree in your front yard, where everyone can meet.

HOME FIRE CAMPAIGN SAVES 1,000+ LIVES Since October 2014, the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign with community partners has saved at least 1,048 lives — including 43 in our region — by educating families about fire safety, helping them create escape plans and installing free smoke alarms in high-risk areas. In the past year, Red Cross volunteers and partners across our 27-county footprint have installed 1,466 alarms and helped make 913 households safer.