By Selena Nisha

After retiring from a career as a speech therapist and school secretary, Susan Winters from Modesto, California found herself searching for new ways to stay engaged in her community. Susan has always believed in the importance of giving back. Her parents were active in community service and instilled in her the values of volunteerism and compassion towards others. This passion for service led her to the American Red Cross in 2010, and her contribution to the organization was recently recognized with the Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Leadership. Named after the founder of the Red Cross, the award recognizes a volunteer for their years of service in various leadership positions.  
Disaster Relief Operations are among the most rewarding aspects of her volunteer work. She fondly remembers deployments to disaster zones and the many roles she embraced. “I have mainly worked in Disaster Services as a Disaster Responder on over 20 disaster relief operations, a Disaster Action Team member and Duty Officer, Workforce Engagement Coordinator, Deployment Team Lead, Sound the Alarm program member, an instructor for Disaster Cycle Services, an emergency response vehicle driver, and for a short time, a Blood Transportation Navigator, delivering donated blood,” Susan states. All of these assignments mean she has spent the past 14 years leaving home to help with disasters near and far.

One deployment that stands out is her time during Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Caribbean and the coastal mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late October 2012. While driving an Emergency Response Vehicle with her husband to deliver food, supplies and clean-up kits to people affected by this disaster, Susan met James Brown, a psychology professor who had volunteered to drive during his Christmas break. His humor provided much-needed levity during the long, exhausting days. Another time, a couple from Long Island whom they met after the storm shared a touching gesture: they gave Susan and her team ancient conch shells churned up from the depths of the ocean during the storm and deposited on the beach.

For Susan, these experiences allowed her to create lifelong friendships and memories she will cherish forever. One of the highlights of Susan’s Red Cross journey has been the opportunity to volunteer alongside her husband. The couple, who have served as a team in numerous deployments, describe their partnership as a “two-for-one special” for the Red Cross. Despite the occasional teasing from their sons, who often joke that they can’t say no to deployments, Susan and her husband’s commitment to service remains unwavering.

Susan recalls the leadership of Jan Campbell, a fellow volunteer who had a profound impact on the Modesto Red Cross office. Jan and her husband, Mike, joined the organization the same day as Susan and her husband, and together, they worked tirelessly to organize volunteer systems and improve operations, into what is now called Workforce Engagement. Susan credits Jan with being the glue that held their local team together, and after Jan’s tragic passing in 2021, Susan continues to honor her memory by carrying forward the systems they built together.

After over 14 years of service, Susan is not sure how much longer she will be able to volunteer at the same pace, but she is determined to continue as long as possible. Her hope for future volunteers is to ensure the Red Cross’s mission continues with their commitment so that they are able to reap the rewards she has felt during her times of service. She states, “I would tell [future volunteers] that you, too, were put here for a purpose.”

Although she never volunteered for recognition, receiving honors for her service, such as the most recent Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Leadership, has been a humbling reminder of the profound impact one person can have. “This pushes me to do a little bit more! I only hope I have the ‘oomph’ to keep going,” she shared.

Volunteers carry out 90% of the humanitarian work of the Red Cross. Here in the Northern California Coastal Region, over 7,000 committed individuals like Susan turn their compassion into action helping us to strengthen their communities. If you want to join Susan, learn more at redcross.org/volunteer.