As we celebrate Red Cross Month this March, the Mid-Florida Chapter in Winter Haven is marking the occasion in a special way. On March 19, the chapter officially opened its newly curated Red Cross museum, a space dedicated to preserving more than a century of local humanitarian service.

At the center of this effort is volunteer Sue Finsterle. Sue joined the American Red Cross in January 2025 after retiring and searching for a meaningful way to give back to her community. While watching coverage of the devastating wildfires in California, she saw the Red Cross responding and decided to walk into her local chapter office to see how she could help.

What the chapter soon discovered was that Sue brought a unique background. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, she earned a degree in art history and museum management and worked at a county museum, focusing on curation, collections and display. She later built a long career in training analysis and technical writing. Throughout it all, she remained deeply curious about history and the human stories behind it.

That experience became invaluable during a routine tour of the Winter Haven office. During that visit, Sue asked to see the entire building. In a loft space up a narrow staircase, she found what she describes as a “treasure trove” of roughly 6,000 artifacts. Scrapbooks, photographs, uniforms, charters, pins and decades of documents were stored in cardboard boxes and scattered throughout the space.

The idea came instantly. The chapter had some display cases and open walls downstairs. It also had history waiting to be preserved and shared.

Sue approached Tina Sweeten, Mid-Florida’s executive director, and asked for permission to develop a small museum. With Tina’s support, Sue committed several hours a week to the project. Nearly a year and approximately 300 volunteer hours later, that vision is now a reality.

Before creating any displays, Sue focused on preservation. Cardboard is acidic and attracts moisture and insects that can damage paper and fabric over time. She removed and discarded dozens of boxes and began organizing the collection into clear categories such as photographs, documents, textiles and objects. “If you store something, you have to have a system to retrieve it,” she says. “Otherwise, it might as well be lost.”

One of her first major projects was protecting nearly three dozen scrapbooks dating from the 1940s through the 1990s. Many contained fragile newspaper clippings. Instead of dismantling them, she placed each scrapbook in a 100 percent cotton pillowcase and then stored them in airtight bins labeled by decade. She also created a detailed filing system for photographs and news clippings not on display, ensuring they can be easily located in the future.

More than 150 Red Cross pins were separated and researched. With help from Red Cross headquarters, a collector out west and internet research, Sue identified their origins and historical significance.

When it came time to design the museum, Sue chose to tell a story rather than simply present a timeline.

The first display case features Winter Haven’s earliest chapter charter from 1917, including the original application submitted to national headquarters. Visitors can also see materials from World War I and World War II, 100-year-old training manuals, and a first-edition copy of Clara Barton’s 1898 book on the history of the Red Cross.

Other sections highlight international work, Service to the Armed Forces, Junior Red Cross programs and local disaster response. Photographs of volunteers in action bring recent decades to life, while uniforms and carefully arranged pins add visual depth.

For Sue, the central theme is people. “Hundreds, maybe thousands of people have contributed to the Red Cross here in Florida,” she says. “They are still writing this history every single day.”

Among the thousands of items she handled, several stood out.

One meaningful discovery involved the Costello family, whose Red Cross service in Florida and across the country spanned generations. Sue uncovered letters between George and Tom Costello that reveal both dedication and humor, connecting local Red Cross history to the Costellos history of service.

After finding the letters, Sue had the opportunity to interview 109-year-old community leader Gundy Costello, George Costello’s widow, about her experience with the Red Cross during World War II. Gundy recalled arriving at her local chapter office the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked and seeing volunteers lined up around the block. She organized her team, opened the doors and began signing people up to serve. For Sue, connecting with notable people like Gundy brings history to life.

Opening During Red Cross Month

The museum’s March 19 opening during Red Cross Month is fitting. Established in 1943, Red Cross Month recognizes the volunteers, donors and partners who make the organization’s lifesaving work possible and raises awareness of its impact in communities nationwide.

The Mid-Florida museum reflects that legacy at the local level. It shows that Red Cross service in Winter Haven spans more than a century. It highlights how community members have responded to wars, disasters and emergencies across generations. It demonstrates that today’s volunteers are part of a continuous story. It is “small but mighty."

Sue hopes visitors leave with one clear takeaway. “I want them to feel like they should help,” she says.

As we observe Red Cross Month, the new museum honors the past while inviting the community to shape the future. The history preserved within its walls belongs to everyone, and we can all play a role in its future by signing up to volunteer at redcross.org/SFLvolunteer.