Speaking with Gaenor Speed is an energizing experience. Her wide, welcoming smile radiates infectious positivity to all those lucky enough to be caught in its gaze.

This time, the smile has been triggered by a conversation about her first deployment as a Red Cross volunteer. “That got me hooked,” Speed says, recalling her experience supporting disaster response efforts in Iowa merely six weeks after having joined as a volunteer.

Since then, Speed has been one of the most active volunteers in the Red Cross’ South Florida Region, having deployed almost 20 times in the last four years and logged tens of thousands of volunteer hours. She has held leadership roles in her local Florida Gulf Coast to Heartland Chapter and for the South Florida Region and touched countless lives through her service.

A Life of Service

Lives of impactful people are often hyperbolically referred to as “extraordinary.” But with Speed, this description might be an understatement.

After spending the first part of her life in New South Wales, Australia, she spent forty years as a nurse in Panama. It’s there where she first came into contact with the Red Cross, in 1989.

Speed moved to Cape Coral, Florida in 2015 and at age 78 adopted her godson, becoming a first-time mother. In August 2016, while attending a workshop on sheltering during hurricanes, she met a Red Cross volunteer and asked how to get involved. She’s been one of the South Florida Red Cross’ most active volunteers ever since.

Deployment and Mentorship

Speed brings her positive attitude, strong work ethic, and seemingly boundless energy to everything she does, especially her volunteer work.

In her early days with the Red Cross, Speed admits that her ravenous interest in getting deeply involved in Red Cross activities might have been perceived by her supervisor as “really annoying.” She acknowledges that when she gets involved in any activity, she does it “with all four feet.”

But far from Speed being seen as an annoyance, her supervisors embraced their new recruit’s enthusiasm. When they asked her whether she wanted to deploy, she immediately responded that she did, “without even knowing what it was about!”

Ever the quick learner, Speed had little trouble making herself useful on her first deployment. She leveraged her years as a nurse to bring a compassionate attitude to every interaction, treating everyone with an equally high level of care no matter their station in life.

The approach Speed took to her first deployment was that, in her own words, “volunteers must be kind and understanding.” Now a veteran Red Crosser, she has become a living example of this belief.

Speed prides herself on acting as a mentor to new volunteers, especially those who are on a deployment for the first time. She has learned from her team leaders and mentors: “I could never have wanted a better supervisory staff,” she says. Mentoring new Red Crossers is one of the many ways Speed gives back.

During difficult deployments, Speed makes a point of lightening the mood, “generally thinking of something fun” when she sees volunteers that need help getting accustomed to the stresses of responding to disasters.

“It’s hard to hear tough stories and continue to keep a smile on your face,” she continued, “but it feels wonderful to give back.”

Forming Close Bonds and Support Networks

In her time at the Red Cross, Speed has given back to the community in a variety of roles. She is an expert at perhaps the most public-facing activity the South Florida Red Cross undertakes: sheltering. Speed has been a sheltering supervisor and regional lead for sheltering, on top of her duties as a sheltering coordinator.

But when Speed needed help the most, the Red Cross was there for her. Last year, she sustained injuries from a car crash and is still recuperating.

Her colleagues at the Florida Gulf Coast to Heartland Chapter formed a crucial support network as she began to get her life back to normal.

Speed recalls the chapter offering for her to “just come in and do nothing.” She politely declined this offer, as anyone who knows Speed might expect, saying that it “was very nice,” but that she prefers to be active and help out however she can.  

One of Speed’s favorite parts of volunteering for the Red Cross is “making people feel wanted and needed,” and now she has been on the receiving end of this kindness when she was most vulnerable.

The Empowerment of Volunteering and Giving Back

Speed still helps with sheltering efforts, but no longer undertakes leadership positions. Now, she primarily volunteers by hosting deployment workshops and screening potential volunteers.

In her work interviewing new recruits, she often hears that one of the main reasons people want to volunteer is to give back.

From her personal experience, Speed tells potential new volunteers what she personally has gained from being a Red Crosser.

“It taught me that I can do anything I want to do,” she explains. Speed gained new skills and the self-confidence to use them: “In my work with the Red Cross, I learned that I’m better helping my own team than I thought and that I’m a better teacher than I thought I was.”

When screening, she underscores the need for volunteers to uphold the values of the Red Cross at all times. She sees it as “a very important thing to do, to be an RC volunteer” and that each and every volunteer is tasked with maintaining the organization’s impressive reputation.

And few Red Cross volunteers uphold that reputation quite as well as Gaenor Speed.

Become a volunteer with the Red Cross in South Florida and work with inspiring individuals like Gaenor Speed! Whatever your interests or skills, there’s a volunteer position in the Red Cross that’s perfect for you. Learn more at redcross.org/sflvolunteer.

Written by Riley Kaminer