You may have seen American Red Crossers on the news handing out food or welcoming people into disaster shelters. But you may not have seen the countless volunteers working tirelessly behind the scenes of a disaster response. Staff Planning and Support Service Associate Neil Katin is one of those people.

Neil has responded 39 times to disasters, big and small, in-person and virtually, to be the first and last Red Crosser that volunteers speak with during their deployment.

His first responsibility is to check in other newly arrived disaster volunteers and help them get oriented and ready to serve. Either in person at headquarters or over the phone, he tells the volunteers who their supervisor will be, how to attend an orientation session, and where to show up on their first day of volunteering. He also helps find available volunteers who live nearby to fill in shifts and gets staff approval to recruit new volunteers when required.

A lot of his time is spent helping people who are “stuck,” as Neil calls it, people whose flights got messed up or whose expense card isn’t working, for example. Fortunately, they have Neil, a natural problem-solver.

“Usually they are pretty straightforward calls,” says Neil. “You have to be interested in figuring out how to help them.”

And at the end of their deployment, he checks out the volunteers before they return home to ensure they have their transportation worked out and that they have returned all equipment.

Neil and the Red Cross often need to alter plans in response to the changing conditions of any disaster. “As with all Red Cross roles, being flexible is a huge advantage to keep you from getting frustrated,” he says. “What you think you know can all go out the door three days later.”

One thing Neil likes about the role is “you get to meet lots of people, everyone who is on the DRO [Disaster Response Operation],” he says.

Neil continues his list of reasons for why he keeps signing up to volunteer again and again: “The thought that I am doing something good; I buy into the humanitarian goals of the organization; A chance for social interaction so I don’t get bored during retirement.”

Mostly retired now, he used to be an engineer building online computer infrastructure. He first joined the Red Cross after the deadly Camp Fire that devastated the town of Paradise, Calif. in 2018.

No chance of being bored lately as he responded to a fire in San José, Calif. that displaced the residents of a 22-unit apartment building in September. He lived in the area, so he went the extra mile to help set up a shelter in the middle of the night and then continued his role guiding volunteers into and out of the operation.

About 90 percent of the Red Cross workforce are volunteers, many of whom keep the organization running smoothly behind the scenes. If you are interested in exploring a volunteer role like Neil’s at the Red Cross, please visit redcross.org.