Red Cross Gala

Gala Committee

Elizabeth J. Folger

Gala Co-Chair

Elizabeth J. Folger

Red Cross Gala Co-Chair

Elizabeth’s first connection with the American Red Cross was in San Francisco after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. As a Red Cross volunteer, she escorted people back to their homes down ghost-town streets in the Marina. She was struck how lives were upended by this natural disaster and how the Red Cross’ care and attention was critical during this dire time.

Elizabeth believes in the “the power of our volunteers” who can and do engage to improve our community. She applied volunteer management and fundraising skills she’d learned from such organizations as the Arthritis Foundation of Northern California, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Salvation Army to her work at the Red Cross. As an American Red Cross volunteer, Elizabeth wishes to use her experience to expand its visibility and mission and reach out to current and future supporters.

She co-chaired the 2023 Gala with Red Cross board member Kenzie Ferguson, an event that raised more than $1M for Red Cross services, including disaster relief. She is pleased to co-chair with Pat Hayes to help create the 2024 Red Cross Gala, “Building Bridges to Hope.”

Committee Members

Gala Committee Members

Stephanie Block

Paula Elmore

Kenzie Ferguson

Hala Hijazi

Kathryn Holmes

Ingrid Swenson

Honorary Committee Members

Juan Benitez

Kathie Milligan

Red Cross Philanthropic Company of the Year

Visa and Visa Foundation

Red Cross Philanthropic Company of the Year

A committed partner for more than 33 years, Visa and Visa Foundation share the Red Cross mission to ensure people impacted by disasters receive the care, comfort and resources they deserve. Visa and Visa Foundation and its employees turn compassion into action, having generously donated more than $26 million in support of Red Cross responses to disasters and crises across the world.

In addition, Visa employees regularly give their time and energy as volunteers, providing hands-on assistance with programs such as Sound the Alarm smoke alarm installation and home fire safety events and personal hygiene kit builds, as well as Missing Maps and MapSwipe initiatives, blood drives, and other programs. Visa team members are also active as Red Cross board and committee members.

Red Cross Humanitarian Volunteer of the Year

Briana Taylor

Red Cross Humanitarian Volunteer of the Year

Supporting people is at the heart of what Briana Taylor does. She has been a volunteer with the American Red Cross for 17 years – having joined during the Red Cross response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But, her journey to make things better for others began long before then. Growing up as a Girl Scout, she was always stepping out of her comfort zone and helping others. Even as a young girl, she had the ability to see the potential in everyone she met.

Briana has successfully navigated academic, corporate and volunteer settings throughout much of her life. She is a retired psychologist – she worked for many years in the Dublin Unified School District and is founder of Raising Healthy Kids, a transformative parenting program providing families with the frameworks and tools they need to raise children who thrive emotionally, socially and academically. Her 20-year background in marriage and family therapy equipped her with skills that would serve well in her many roles at the Red Cross. Since her start with the organization, she had been wholeheartedly committed to the Red Cross mission of preventing and alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

As a Member of the Pacific Division Regional Response Management Team, Briana deploys around the country as External Relations Assistant Director on the Leadership Team. She has provided comfort and support to communities affected by hurricanes, super storms, floods, tornados, and the California wildfires, including the Valley Fire, Clayton Fire, 2017 California Wildfires, Mendocino Complex Fire, Camp Fire, Kincade Fire, 2020 Lightning Complex Wildfires and most recently in the Red Cross California Gold Country Region during the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe following the Calder Fire. When not responding to disasters, Briana serves as Vice Chair for the Red Cross Bay Area Chapter Board of Directors. In addition, she is the volunteer partner to the Regional Disaster Officer, and has been featured as a guest speaker at countless meetings and events.

Working with local government partners, and community and faith-based organizations to help build more resilient communities is also part of Briana’s personal Red Cross mission. She chairs the region’s leadership councils composed of key community partners and organizations who connect the Red Cross to local community needs.

Briana is also a supporter and advocate for other Red Cross volunteers. As a voice for the volunteers, Briana believes that while people volunteer for different reasons, all have come to help and support our communities. She believes that only through each of our individual, unique contributions can we collectively accomplish great things. It is because of the tireless hours of dedication by each volunteer that the Red Cross is there for our communities when help is needed most. “Our lives are forever changed and deeply affected as we work to actively prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. The spirit, generosity, and resilience of volunteers and the people we serve in the aftermath of overwhelming adversity inspires and motivates me every day.”

Briana and her husband John have two grown daughters, Alex and Sami. Without their support, Briana says she would not be able to do what she does.