By Yasmeen Saadi
American Red Cross
Steve Adukaitis, who recently retired from the American Red Cross, dedicated his entire career to emergency response operations.
From working in federal service to FEMA to the Mid-America Regional Council and finally as part of the Red Cross disaster leadership team in the Missouri-Arkansas Region, his passion for helping others propelled him to use his experiences and skills to support communities across the nation in times of emergencies.
Steve began federal service in December 1976 in an agency that eventually moved into the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For more than 31 years, he worked in every preparedness, response and recovery program FEMA had, including as a full-time disaster worker.
His first experience working on disaster relief was with the federal agency following the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood. Ironically, his first disaster experience was where in 1889 the Red Cross conducted its first disaster relief effort.
“It was in June of ‘77, on a Friday afternoon, I'll never forget, our supervisor came out and said, ‘Johnstown, Pennsylvania was under 10 feet of water, and you leave on Sunday’,” Steve said.
Seeing that destruction first-hand has stayed with Steve, and his empathy for the people hit by disasters inspired him to continue working in disaster relief.
“There is nothing more challenging than working in a post disaster environment,” Steve said. “... Nothing more frustrating. But also, nothing more rewarding. And that's why it sort of found me.”
While working at FEMA, Steve responded to a variety of disasters, large and small, across the country, including Hurricane Andrews, flooding in California and Maine, tornadoes in North Carolina and South Carolina, the Great Flood of 1993 that occurred in the Midwestern United States and Hurricane Katrina.
Steve said one of the most touching experiences he has had was in New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina.
“The pope of the Orthodox Catholic Church...came to New Orleans and I got an opportunity to be with him,” Steve said.
“We stood where one of the levees broke and killed a lot of people in that neighborhood. [The pope] laid some flowers down as a memorial and [he and the bishops] broke out in this beautiful funeral song in Greek. Didn't understand a word, but just that moment of these beautiful baritone voices singing a song for the souls of the dead, that still gets me to this day… And then… he starts walking all through the flood debris and through the wrecked homes… blessing everything that was left,” he said.
After retiring from FEMA, Steve spent three years with the Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City, Missouri, working locally with emergency managers in hospitals, public health, police and fire departments, emergency management services, leading training and exercise programs to prepare managers for their jobs
While at the Council, Steve received a phone call from the Red Cross asking him to join their team.
At the time, the Red Cross was restructuring its operation nationally, and Steve was drawn to the new changes. He joined in 2013.
“It was going to be very well structured, very well organized. It was very thoughtful,” Steve said. “It had the client, as the center, as the focus of everything the Red Cross was going to do. It was going to make sure that if you were a Red Cross client, no matter where you lived in the country, you'd get the same level of assistance… So I just got really excited about the future of the Red Cross… And that's why this was an opportunity I really couldn't turn down.”
Because of his vast experience working with emergency response, Steve had built up wisdom to share with his Red Cross team, which was of great help through the many changes experienced by the Red Cross at the time.
While in a management position, the Red Cross had to move and reorganize their resources and branches several times which was often difficult for volunteers. However, Steve motivated his team to adapt and persevere through these challenges, leading by inspiration and example.
“Surviving all those changes in FEMA prepared me for all the changes in the Red Cross,” Steve said.
“I was able to tell people you know, ‘Don't worry, we'll get through this. We've only been at this for one month; we've only been at this for six months; it's been one year. Let's face it, if we were a human baby, we would probably just be crawling and walking around now.... It'll get better, we'll make this work’,” he said.
As the Red Cross chapters were realigned and the Red Cross of Greater Kansas City was formed, Steve’s Red Cross team had to start from scratch.
Building that region and assisting during that change was one of Steve’s proudest moments with the Red Cross, along with working with the volunteers to keep them motivated and hopeful.
“Keeping things running, keeping the mission going, keeping the volunteers happy and engaged, that's probably the most significant thing that I think I did,” Steve said.
Throughout his career, Steve has given his all to help those around him through assisting after disasters, managing emergency response teams and being a motivating and encouraging voice for many volunteers.
In December, Steve decided to retire from the Red Cross disaster services leadership. After devoting over 40 years in disaster relief, Steve says he and his wife are ready and excited for the next chapter of their lives.
In addition to all the wisdom Steve passed on to his team, he said he also learned a lot from his volunteers about resilience, determination and community.
“When the tornadoes hit Oak Grove, Missouri… It was the first big incident to hit the region. And you worry, “Are the volunteers going to show up? Are they going to show up when we call them?” We got to the office, they were already there. They didn’t wait to be called,” Steve said.
“That’s probably my favorite memory. The Red Cross talks about the power of the volunteers in their mission statement, I saw it in action.”