Lyra Kelly demonstrates the versatile ways volunteers can help people following a disaster. Although she has management experience, here she is driving a forklift in order to get supplies delivered to families in need. (Photo courtesy of Lyra Kelly)
by Jill Feldon LaNouette
I first met Lyra Kelly when we were both deployed (aka sent out to a disaster response operation) to help people severely affected by the Spring 2025 tornadoes in St. Louis. Well-organized and skilled in the proprietary programs of the American Red Cross, she was the Operations Management Supervisor, responsible for organizing all of us volunteers—some of whom were supporting people in shelters, some assigned to hotels—as well as the logistics of delivering food, fulfilling supply orders and transporting volunteers to their duties across the disaster area.
Little did I know how incredibly experienced she was.
By her estimate, that was at least her 30th Red Cross deployment. The native of Marin County has served in multiple volunteer roles for the Red Cross since she retired from her corporate career as an expert in logistics and management. While she has volunteered for other organizations, Lyra’s enthusiasm for the Red Cross is apparent in everything she says and does.
For example, she has worked on disaster response operations onsite or virtually for eight to 12 hours a day, for at least two weeks each time, on multiple occasions. Her volunteer service includes:
In Mass Care
– Sheltering: service associate and administrator following the Napa Lightning Complex fires in 2020
– Distribution of Emergency Supplies: warehouse manager and forklift operator after the Los Angeles fires in 2025
In Logistics
– Sourcing: service associate, supervisor and manager positions for several in-person and virtual deployments, predominately for the Gold Country and Northern California Coastal Region
– Fulfillment: service associate administrator and supervisor after Hurricane Ian in Florida in 2022, manager for the Northern California Coastal Region following the atmospheric rivers and after Hurricane Idalia in Florida in 2023 and supervisor after the Lahaina (Hawaii) fires in 2023
In Workforce
– Staff Services: service associate after Hurricanes Debby (Florida) and Helene (North Carolina) in 2024
These are only some of the Red Cross volunteer roles Lyra has taken on while also raising four children.
Why do all this?
“I am good with computers and have had a lot of experience with stockrooms and inventory management,” she says. “I understand the logistics support needed by people who are customer-facing.” This experience has enabled her to eliminate unnecessary processes and to move paperwork into a digital format. She also has found solutions to unanticipated disaster-related delivery problems and can manage a multitude of complex challenges.
Like me, Regional Mass Care Manager Natalie Manier also met Lyra during a deployment. She says, “I first worked closely with her last year during the Hurricane Helene response in North Carolina. We were juggling two headquarters in different cities. She and I worked to build a system that made everything run more smoothly, and we tackled a lot of challenges together. That’s when I learned how awesome, creative, and genuine she was.”
Manager Natalie Manier (right) says that people trust Lyra Kelly as a volunteer leader because she is so organized, thoughtful and good at communicating. (Photo courtesy of Lyra Kelly)
Natalie was so impressed with Lyra that when Natalie moved to her current staff role within the Red Cross, she immediately appointed Lyra as her Logistics lead. Logistics is a function that works behind the scenes to secure disaster necessities like trailers, supplies, people and even training to the right place at the right time. “She stepped into the Logistics Regional Program lead role (a position that is absolutely critical) and immediately started transforming the way we do things,” says Natalie. “People trust her judgment because she’s organized, thoughtful and communicates clearly.
“She has this incredible ability to solve really complex problems while also being a natural leader,” says Natalie, laughingly adding, “I’ve said more than once that she’s who I want to be when I grow up.”
On Becoming a Volunteer
When asked about why she volunteers, she responds, “I believe in the program so much. I want to be helpful—that’s my only mission.” Her favorite function is the distribution of emergency supplies. “It needs people who are logically minded,” she says. And she enjoys mentoring new volunteers in this role.
Lyra appreciates the volunteers she has worked with not only in Northern California but across the country. “Our region is really cool with awesome people. The region keeps me grounded,” she says. “And on deployments, I have had a chance to meet a lot of different people—people without homes, who have been through a lot of trauma, as well as people who volunteer because they want to be helpful.”
She adds, “We are joined by these experiences. You create a network of people and become a community.”
Given that about 90 percent of the Red Cross workforce are volunteers, and volunteers are always needed—especially for the Disaster Cycle Services department—Lyra is a volunteer promoter. “There is something for everyone. If you volunteer in an area that doesn’t seem like a great fit, there are people who will figure out what you are best suited for.”
In addition to simply wanting to be helpful, Lyra strives to ensure volunteers have a good experience. “I want volunteers to say ‘yes’ whenever we need them. I want to enable people to grow and learn, and to feel good about what we did, so that they will say ‘yes’ to more things,” she says.
Lyra adds, “I especially want people to have such a good experience that they want to deploy again. I know that’s not always possible but that’s why I say yes to so many things!”
For more information on becoming an American Red Cross volunteer, go to redcross.org/volunteer.
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