Susan and Holly Baker are a mother-daughter team dedicated to the Red Cross mission. Susan’s leadership on the LA Region Board and Tiffany Circle follows a legacy started by her great aunt Betty. Holly’s journey began as an AmeriCorps member with the Red Cross, growing into disaster response and community education roles. Together, they show how family, service and compassion can make a lasting impact on their community. Photo by Mimi Teller/American Red Cross.
By Emily Hache/American Red Cross
For Susan and Holly Baker, service is a family tradition. This mother-daughter pair has dedicated countless hours to supporting disaster relief efforts through the American Red Cross, each making a unique impact in their respective roles.
Their family’s history with the Red Cross began with Susan’s great aunt, Mary Elizabeth Bazar-Robin, known to her friends and family as Betty. A pioneering businesswoman, Betty founded Sensor Systems Inc. with her husband Harvey. When Harvey passed away in 1965, Betty became CEO and built the company into a major supplier to the commercial and corporate aviation industry. In 2016, Betty formed the Mary E. Bazar-Robin Foundation to forward her charitable endeavors.
After Betty’s passing in 2021, Susan joined the foundation as CEO, and that’s when her relationship with the Red Cross really took off.
“I'm not going to lie, we didn't know what we were doing at the beginning, but the Red Cross just embraced us and not just as donors, but as partners to their mission. Their response to us as people was so amazing that it immediately drew us in and made us feel that the gifts we were shepherding through in Betty's name were going to make a difference.”
Susan’s relationship with the Red Cross continues to grow and she now serves as a Board Member for the Los Angeles Region and a member of the Tiffany Circle.
For Holly, her Red Cross journey began on a road trip to Michigan with her mom. They passed a billboard for a non-profit and that sparked a conversation about non-profit work as a career.
Soon after, Holly joined the Red Cross as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Within two weeks of starting her new position, she was deployed to Florida as part of the disaster response to Hurricane Helene. Since joining the Red Cross in September of 2024, she has served as a Disaster Action Team member, a Community Preparedness Education Team member and as a Regional Volunteer Supervisor.
Her work with other volunteers is her favorite part of the job. “Every volunteer I've met has become a giant part of my life, whether it's the people I’m with on deployments or my office volunteers who I work with every day. There was someone I met in Florida from Guam! This is humanity helping humanity, nothing else. We’re just there for each other.”
Susan’s strategic leadership and Holly’s frontline work highlight how every Red Cross volunteer makes their own unique contribution to the mission. Susan has enjoyed watching her daughter flourish in her role.
“She is out there doing her own thing and fulfilling her own personal mission. The Red Cross welcomed her for who she was and what she could contribute. With the Red Cross, no matter what it is that you're doing--if you're donating, volunteering, whatever it is that you're doing--they are so grateful and it just makes you feel amazing inside.”
Holly says, “There really is a job for everyone, no matter what you want to do.”
If you are interested in discovering where you might fit in at the Red Cross, go to https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer.html .
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
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