After 60 years of volunteering, married DAT responders have no plans to slow down

Elizabeth Shook has been volunteering with the American Red Cross since she was 16 years old.

“My mother sort of dragged me into it to start with. So, it was a family thing,” she explained.

She started out as a water safety instructor before moving to training services, instructing others on CPR and First Aid. When getting down on the floor became too much, she made the transition to Disaster Cycle Services assisting with casework following disasters like home fires and then made the move to staff services.

In total, that “family thing” has spanned 60 years.

About ten years into it, she met and married her husband Bob who she then proceeded to “drag into it.”

“When I started, Beth always needed an extra person to make the class roster when she was teaching, so I ended up getting a lot of training,” Bob laughed.

And you know how the old saying goes, the couple that volunteers together, stays together.

Married for 50 years, the couple based out of Allegany County have worked together on everything from Disaster Action Team (DAT) responses to major national disaster operations, highlighting the many diverse opportunities available to those looking to volunteer.

“We worked together as a DAT team very often,” Elizabeth explained. “There are a number of jobs that you can do totally remotely from home and some of them are the hardest to fill. Those volunteers who have a disability or need to operate from home are just as important to use as the people who go out. DAT dispatchers can work totally from home alongside the teams who go out.”

The couple used to responding to disasters themselves were also on the receiving end of a response early on. In 1972 Bob recalled that when 12 feet of flood water damaged the couple’s home, Red Cross volunteers just like them were on the scene to provide shelter and meals until they could repair the damage.

“We can relate to folks who have disasters.”

Reflecting on their evolving roles with the Red Cross over the years, Bob recalled one of their first DAT responses together and what it meant to them as a couple.

“One of the biggest we had was a fire in Cuba. A 15-apartment building and about 45 people impacted. I worked on ten of the cases that day. It was all taken care of in about four hours. It means a lot. You don’t get a better feeling than helping somebody.”

That feeling rings true even more so around the holidays for the couple. Recounting the Christmas they spent together volunteering in New York City in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Elizabeth led a group of volunteers, spending six months working on the operation helping to input data for more than 30,000 people impacted. Making it a family affair once again, Bob came to spend the holiday with her, both opting to use the time to help others.

“I was able to go and work as an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) driver delivering meals,” Bob explained.

“But he didn’t realize part of that was climbing 32 floors to get to some of the apartments, though!”

And 60 years later with no plans to slow down any time soon, the couple hopes their story will inspire others to make volunteering with the Red Cross in any capacity a family affair this holiday season – and beyond.

“The core of Red Cross volunteers have a certain value of humanity that they all share,” Bob explained. “Different religions, colors, ages but we are all caring people.”

“They care about people and they want to help – you can count on that,” Elizabeth smiled. “We keep going because of the people we help. There is no greater satisfaction that knowing you can enable others to pick up the threads of their lives and move forward.”

From DAT responses to local blood drives, supporting military veterans and their families to national disaster operations, you can learn more about volunteer opportunities – both in-person and virtual – here or by contacting RecruitWNY@redcross.org

 

 

Giving the gift of time this holiday season

The holidays are a time for loved ones to gather, to share food and stories that inspire the holiday spirit; unfortunately, some find themselves faced with tragedy.  Thankfully the American Red Cross (ARC) and its surplus of volunteers are always there to lend a helping hand. 

According to the National Fire Protection Association, Thanksgiving is the peak day for home fires, followed by Christmas Day, the day before Thanksgiving then Christmas Eve.  Cooking equipment and decorations are involved in roughly 20% of these fires.  The ARC is no stranger to providing immediate relief for families displaced by misfortune.  I had the pleasure of speaking with Chuck Haupt, a retired photojournalist, and an American Red Cross Disaster Assistance Team (DAT) volunteer. 

Mr. Haupt remembers one specific fire, that happened in Binghamton, NY the day after Christmas. “It was a five-family apartment building, all of the families were displaced, I had to help”.  Once volunteers like Chuck arrive on a scene, they locate a warm, dry place to get the families inside out of the weather. On this particular day the local Loyal Order of the Moose opened its doors and welcomed the families in, while Chuck and the other volunteers were interviewing the families and tending to their immediate needs.   No sooner did Chuck get his interviews underway, he realized that one of the families did not speak English, “they were very skittish to meet with anyone”, he recalls.  They couldn’t understand that we were there to help, they considered that we might be there to deport them as some suspected they were not in the country legally.  They were assured that the Red Cross’s intent was simply to help! 

The Red Cross provides immediate aid to individuals during a disaster which can include funds for temporary housing, food, and clothing.  Comfort kits are also in huge demand.  These kits contain personal care items like toothpaste, a washcloth, and a comb.  Mental health referrals are also given on an as needed basis along with a directory on how to replace their driver’s license, insurance cards and the likes.

Mr. Haupt, why do you volunteer on holidays when you can be home, with your own family?  “It is simple, someone is hurting out there.  We are volunteers, this is what we signed up for, to get that call for help, whether it is a holiday or any other day that ends in a “y”, they need help”.  

“For me to take three hours away from my family on a holiday to help someone is the right thing to do, I can return to my home and be with my family, they have no home to return to”.  “It reassures us what the holidays are all about – and it’s not about the material things” Chuck stated.  He encourages people to help others this holiday season by donating or volunteering.  

For some people volunteering is about giving but for the likes of you, it is a way of living. Thank you, Mr. Haupt, for all you do!

To learn more about volunteering with the American Red Cross or to donate, visit RedCross.org.

Story by Holly Gassler, American Red Cross of Western New York communications volunteer

'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.”