By Susan Gallagher, American Red Cross
Volunteers make up nearly 90% of the American Red Cross workforce, supporting communities by responding to disasters, assisting at blood drives, providing vital services to military families and so much more!
The American Red Cross Rookie of the Year awards celebrate volunteers across the Missouri and Arkansas region who have stepped up in a big way in their first year as a volunteer, completed 50+ hours of volunteer work, and made meaningful contributions to their chapters.
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
Northwest Arkansas Rookie of the Year - Cheryl Spiers, DAT Supervisor
It all began when Cheryl Spiers stopped by a community booth. What started on an April day in 2025 as a simple conversation quickly turned into a calling.
“My boyfriend and I had talked often about giving back to our community,” Cheryl said. “We just couldn’t decide where our time would be best spent—until we found the Red Cross.”
Cheryl is now a Disaster Action Team (DAT) Supervisor, responding to home fires to provide immediate support and compassion. Recently selected for the Northwest Arkansas Chapter Rookie of the Year award, chapter leaders cited Cheryl for her exceptional compassion, empathy and ability to respond calmly in times of crisis.
She practices those same qualities at work. For many years, Cheryl has served as the Palliative Care Clinic Coordinator at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Ark. There she works closely with patients navigating chronic and terminal illnesses.
Outside work, she was seeking a volunteer opportunity that would “stretch” her. She found that challenge as the first in her family to officially volunteer with the Red Cross. However, the spirit of helping others is a family trait, and a supportive family has made it possible for Cheryl to balance her volunteer work with a full-time career and a busy family life.
She also cites the power of collaboration between healthcare and disaster relief for her success. One day, while at work, Cheryl was notified about a single-family fire. Those affected were hospital patients. She leveraged her connections by contacting the hospital’s social worker, case manager, and nursing staff, creating a seamless support system.
Through Cheryl’s leadership and coordination, those affected received immediate help and were connected to ongoing Red Cross casework.
“This response showed what’s possible when community partners come together,” she said. “It was about more than just meeting immediate needs. It was about ensuring they had access to continued care and support.”
Southern Missouri Rookie of the Year - Curtis Chambers, Community Volunteer Leader
There is not much Curtis Chambers hasn’t done. The Southern Missouri chapter’s Rookie of the Year has been a soldier, truck technician and driver, educator and foster parent to 50 children.
A Chicago native, Curtis served in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and was both in the Marines and the Army before moving to Nixa, MO, with his girlfriend and her daughter in 2016.
In 2025, when Curtis was recuperating from the last of 11 surgeries on his knees and shoulder, he decided to volunteer and called the American Red Cross, which he had encountered on three occasions. “The first time was when I was in Afghanistan. I had a lot things going on when my wife sent me a ‘Dear John’ letter wanting a divorce. The care package from the American Red Cross really got me through a tough time in my life,” Curtis recalled. “The second was when I came across a movie, then a book, about the American Red Cross and its founder Clara Barton. A third time I finally had a chat with Jenny Soloman and Emma Yannizzi when they were teaching us about disasters.”
Curtis became a Red Cross Community Volunteer Leader, going to local fire departments and police stations to see what messages needed to be shared. He is also an Elected Official Liaison, serving as the primary bridge between the Red Cross and government officials and responds to local emergencies as part of the Disaster Action Team.
“It feels great to go to a home fire and be able to help,” Curtis said. “I remember one fire that involved a three-generation family living in a very large home in Ozark, Missouri. The Red Cross was on the site at 4 a.m. and stayed there for seven hours. The family lost everything, but the survivors were grateful the Red Cross was there to help.”
Greater Arkansas Rookie of the Year - Cindye Schoof, Volunteer Partner/Community Disaster Program Specialist
When American Red Cross volunteers deployed to Guam in April 2026 to provide emergency help during super typhoon Sinlaku, Cindye Schoof joined the team as a virtual volunteer.
That team pre-positioned supplies, operated emergency shelters, and delivered essential resources. “Every person I talked to in Guam was so extremely thankful for our services,” says Cindye who volunteers with the Red Cross’ Greater Arkansas Chapter.
Cindye found the same reaction closer to home, when she responded to a fire that destroyed a woman’s home down to its foundation, even burning a tree planted in memory of the homeowner’s son who had died a year earlier.
“I sifted through the debris and was able to recover a cracked urn containing her son’s ashes,” Cindye recalls. “She was overcome with thanks. After hearing about her challenges, I was able to get help both from the Red Cross and other local resources. I will always remember her.”
Going the extra mile to help others reflects a lifetime of giving back. Cindye’s professional career has ranged from teaching to serving as a chief financial officer for a non-profit graduate school in the Washington D.C. area to the role of materials manager for a Little Rock hospital.
Now she serves the Red Cross as a Volunteer Partner/Community Disaster Program Specialist. She is a Disaster Action Team Chapter Coordinator, a Disaster Action Team Manager and a Duty Officer. She also teaches disaster preparedness courses. Cindye’s many skills and commitment prompted Red Cross chapter leaders to choose her as the chapter’s Rookie of the Year.
What motivates this multi-talented volunteer? “I wanted to help make a difference and joining the Red Cross team was the answer. Every time I saw a disaster I saw the Red Cross, so I knew the organization was proactive and had a committed mission.”
Greater St. Louis Rookie of the Year – Kevin Koontz, Blood Donor Ambassador
For 31 years this school music teacher and performer at America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre (the Muny) also donated whole blood and platelets.
When for health reasons Kevin Koontz had to stop donating blood, the retired teacher and performer moved on to become an American Red Cross Blood Donor Ambassador. He also joined the Red Cross’ Disaster Action Team, helping survivors of the March and May 2025 tornadoes that hit the St. Louis area. Recently he was named the Greater St. Louis chapter’s Rookie of the Year.
“While I enjoy getting out and welcoming donors at various corporate and community blood drives, I think meeting those hard-hit by the tornadoes and those families in shelters helped me see first-hand the impact that the Red Cross has in providing both a place to stay and the financial assistance to help people get back on their feet,” he says.
Kevin also adds that he is still touched by the generosity of those who have contributed to #givelikecharlie. Eight years ago, Kevin joined others in founding a blood donor team called Give Like Charlie in memory of music student whose mother was a fellow teacher at Mary Institute and Country Day School. Charlie died as a young man in an automobile accident; his family formed a donor team, which Kevin tirelessly promotes.
“This organization has had an impact on 31,000 lives over eight years and is ranked #65 out of 77,000 donor teams in the United States. Not bad, for a grass-roots group started in St. Louis to honor Charlie.”
Why does he love volunteering? Kevin’s motto is a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “When you are good to others, you’re best to yourself.”
Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas Rookie of the Year - Michael Bowman, Communications Volunteer
College professor Michael Bowman chose the American Red Cross as a volunteer opportunity when he retired because he believed the Red Cross had a great story to tell.
He should know. The Jonesboro, Ark., native has spent decades in film production, broadcasting and the performing arts. As assistant professor in creative media production he also assumed the responsibilities of interim assistant dean of the college of liberal arts and communications at Arkansas State University.
When he retired in 2024, Michael was eager to use his experience to help a non-profit organization tell its story. He chose the Red Cross, where he uses his media and communications skills as a photographer, videographer, blogger and writer. He also helps with media relations, all to tell the Red Cross story. For all his hard work within his first year of volunteering, Michael was awarded Rookie of the Year for the Red Cross Southeast Missouri and Northeast Arkansas Chapter.
“I am extraordinarily grateful to the Red Cross for allowing me to be part of the team,” Michael said. “Over the past 11 months in interactions with clients, I have heard nothing but praise for Red Cross volunteers for their dedication and selfless acts of kindness during times of tragedy and loss.”
Michael has been equally impressed with fellow Red Cross volunteers, remembering especially the work of Patty Minga who was a 40-year Red Cross volunteer. He wrote a profile of this former nurse who credited her faith for her passion for service and who died recently in an auto accident.
“Whether it was packing disaster kits, helping as a Blood Donor Ambassador, working as a nurse, teaching classes at her church or helping hospital patients, Patty’s entire life was motivated by service. She serves as an inspiration to others,” Michael shared.
We could say the same about him.
Central and Northern Missouri Rookie of the Year - Norman Buescher, Logistics Coordinator
He has been an engineering technician for more than two decades, a public works administrator, an expert in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and more recently a builder of an underground hobbit house.
With his strong engineering and surveying background, Norman Buescher mapped roads, bridges, road pavements and utilities within Cole and Platte counties in Missouri. His work led to the creation of a system allowing emergency response teams to find residents who needed help.
When he retired in the summer of 2022, Norman and his wife left Kansas City to move 150 miles east to his 200-acre family farm in Lohman, Missouri. Norman quickly became heavily involved in the local community, helping with logistics at a Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) TREK (a multi-day youth camp where campers role-play as 19th-century pioneers). He also serves as a Fire Protection District Board member and is researching his family history.
With all that, Norman still finds time for the Red Cross. “I am a Red Cross Logistics Coordinator for emergency trailers and shelters in the Central and Northeastern part of Missouri,” he said. “Just recently I helped install over 30 smoke alarms. I am also a member of the local Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) team.”
COAD builds local networks of nonprofits, faith-based groups, government agencies, and businesses that collaborate to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies. “In that role, I represent the American Red Cross and LDS Church Just Serve, a community-wide platform the church uses to connect volunteers with local service opportunities.
For all his efforts, Norman was chosen as American Red Cross’ Central and Northern Missouri Chapter Rookie of the Year.
Greater Kansas City and Northwest Missouri Rookie of the Year - Varum Kabra, Youth Volunteer
At age 14, Varun Kabra became a Scholastic Kid Reporter, a national program for talented young journalists. Later, he was named to a high school leadership program created in Overland Park, Kansas, to overcome hate by promoting kindness and understanding.
Varun Kabra also plays the cello for the Kansas Youth Symphony, enjoys origami and tennis, speaks fluent Hindi, and is a Boy Scout.
All those activities did not stop Varun, who, at age 16, founded an American Red Cross chapter at his high school to focus on health education. He has also spent more than 90 hours over 11 months serving at multiple community blood drives and CPR training events, and as an International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Youth Advocate — a campaign to raise awareness of the rules of armed conflict.
All this work recently earned Varun the coveted Rookie of the Year award from his Greater Kansas City and Northwest Missouri chapter.
With multiple organizations to choose from, why did he choose the Red Cross? “I've always taken inspiration from my sister, who has been deeply involved in advocating for health awareness. I chose the Red Cross because this premier humanitarian nonprofit organization offered an opportunity to make a difference in my school and my community,” he says. “I was also impressed by the friendliness of our Red Cross chapter and team. Their kindness made me more open to getting involved.”
Red Cross chapter leaders say Varun is a dedicated, driven, and compassionate youth leader with a deep passion for volunteering and serving his community. “Whether leading student organizations, doing community service, or excelling in the arts and music, Varun continues to inspire those around him with his kindness, hard work, and dedication to making a positive impact.”
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