By Janet Dubiel, American Red Cross

Tom Altavilla received the ‘Exceptional Volunteer of the Year’ award at the recent Northern Arizona Chapter Volunteer Recognition event. Like many Red Cross volunteers, Tom has evolved through different positions and lines of service during his tenure as a volunteer.

After retiring, he wanted to find an organization to volunteer with. Having contacted several organizations, he found the Red Cross was the most welcoming. He explains, “They reached out to me quickly. They found things for me to do even though I was still working for the first two years I volunteered.”

He began volunteering in November of 2016 with the Orange County, CA chapter doing logistics. He was the regional ERV lead for the ‘Desert to Sea Chapter’ (consisting of Orange, San Bernadino and Riverside counties) and then the San Diego Region. He was the ‘Sound the Alarm’ Logs lead for Orange County, as well as the warehouse lead. As you can see, Tom has worn many hats.

He stated, “The journey has been interesting.” When he first volunteered in California, he was with a chapter in an urban environment with many volunteers in a wealthy area. He moved to the Prescott area during Covid and there weren't many active volunteers. He started doing things that he normally wouldn't do, like DAT. In the last five years it's been great to see the number of active volunteers increase.

Tom’s current roles are as Volunteer Partner to Karen Pimentel, the Northern Arizona Chapter Community Disaster Program Specialist; the Yavapai County Volunteer Logistics Lead; and the DAT Supervisor for West Yavapai County.

On being recognized with this award, Tom acknowledged, “It's always great to be recognized by your peers.”