43
20 new volunteers needed in Mahoning/Trumbull counties each
Red Cross seeks disaster-services volunteers
LIBERTY
Wanted: Good- hearted people who want to help their community and its residents — all for no pay but with rewards worth far more than money.
The mission: Signing up to be trained as Red Cross disaster-services volunteers.
The need is urgent, particularly in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, which are down to two volunteers each, said Karen Conklin, director of the American Red Cross Lake to River Chapter, located at 3530 Belmont Ave.
“We’d like to get 20 more volunteers each in Mahoning and Trumbull,” she said.
The other counties in the Lake to River Chapter — Ashtabula, six volunteers; Columbiana, 10 volunteers; and Jefferson, 24 volunteers — are in better shape.
“It is a perfect job for retirees who have time on their hands and are looking for something rewarding to do,” Conklin said.
“There is something that changes us inside when we put a blanket around someone’s shoulders who is standing outside their home as it is destroyed by fire,” she said.
Two stalwart Trumbull County volunteers — Gail Hanes of Southington and Furman Alden of Warren — talked about their service with the Red Cross.
“To be a volunteer on a disaster action team [DAT], you have to be available, committed and reliable,” said Hanes, retired office manager for Lynn, Kittinger & Noble in Warren, who has been a Red Cross volunteer for three years.
“It’s not a glamorous job. ... You can get a call anytime night or day. But it’s a comforting feeling to go out and help someone in need,” she said.
Alden, a retiree from Delphi-Packard Electric, has been sent to eight national disasters in his six years as a Red Cross volunteer.
He recalls driving an emergency-response vehicle delivering food to victims of a hurricane who lived in a mobile-home park in New Bern, N.C.
“All these people had fear in their eyes. ... When we handed them food, you could tell how grateful they were that we were there,” he said.
In the six months ending Dec. 31, 2014, Red Cross volunteers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties helped 495 people, including 193 children, with food, shelter, clothing, medicine, first-month’s rent or security deposit and bedding at a cost of $53,491.
Not included in this cost is the training of volunteers, purchase of stuffed animals for children, gasoline for vehicles and other expenses, Conklin said.
Red Cross services are always free. The organization gets no government funding; instead, it relies on a generous public to do its work, said Conklin, who is one of four paid full-time staff members in the Lake to River Chapter that serves 728,188 people in five counties.
Since July 1, 2014, the local chapter responded to 175 disaster operations. Though the majority were single-family house fires, volunteers also responded to flooding, toxic spills and a gas explosion, and in the past month, provided canteen services for fires or incidents lasting longer than four hours to nearly 200 local firefighters.
“We have a mandate to respond within two hours. We can have a shelter up and running for 200 people in two hours,” Conklin said.
Ninety-five percent of Red Cross personnel are volunteers, and all training is free, said Patricia Buckhold, regional volunteer director.
Conklin said the process to become a volunteer is to call the local American Red Cross at 330-392-2551, ext. 113.
“Every disaster I’ve been on, someone has touched my heart,” Alden said.
“It makes you proud to be who you are and of what you are doing,” Hanes said. “We are willing to share that feeling with new volunteers and help them learn.”