Susy Rodriguez says she’s no angel, but she is blessed.

“I thrive in chaos,” says Rodriguez, an American Red Cross volunteer who, in the past year, has deployed to five disasters, from hurricanes to wildfires. “I am doing God’s work, and I feel blessed to be able to do it. The Red Cross has given my life purpose. Volunteering gives me 10-fold what I give back.”

Volunteers make up 90 percent of the Red Cross workforce. As many as 275,000 volunteers respond to nearly twice as many large disasters as a decade ago.  Already in 2023, the U.S. has experienced a record 25 billion-dollar disasters.

Rodriguez, 59, dipped her toe into disaster volunteering more than 30 years ago during Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that pulverized South Florida homes into tinder.

“I rustled up medical supplies from friends and drove out there,” says Rodriguez, who lives in Miami, FL.  “It was so devastating, and I couldn’t sit still.”

Fast forward a few decades, after raising a couple of kids and doing “the real estate career thing and wifey thing,” Rodriguez discovered a hole in her calendar and in her heart.

“I don’t do idle very well,” she says. “I had everything under control -- my family, my career -- but I felt empty. It didn’t have a purpose. I knew I could be doing so much more, and I knew the Red Cross had a need.”

The Red Cross and Rodriguez proved a perfect fit. The organization’s mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. Rodriguez’s mission is to use her boundless energy, her desire to do and help and figure out, to assist people whose lives are upended by disaster.

Rodriguez started her Red Cross volunteer career as a member of the Disaster Action Team, a group of volunteers who are ready to respond to local disasters 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. She then became a Disaster Shelter Service Associate and helped set up a shelter for residents who survived a Miami Gardens blaze that ravaged 75 apartments and displaced 200 people.

“These folks ran out of their apartments with only the clothes on their backs,” Rodriguez says. “I didn’t know anything about setting up shelters, but it was all hands on deck. So, I just jumped in.”

For several weeks, Rodriguez opened cots, set up feeding stations, greeted and comforted families who needed a “safe environment and the feeling that they weren’t going through this disaster alone,” she says.

Rodriguez was so good at shelter work that she was tapped to perform Shelter Resident Transition casework, next-step planning that helps shelter residents stitch their lives back together. She helped individuals and families do everything from replacing their driver’s licenses to locating new housing.

“I helped [them] focus and create a safe, sustainable recovery plan,” she says. “I can’t live the same, predictable day, every day. Disasters afford you the opportunity to go into different scenarios and pull from your internal resources what’s needed to help a distressed [person] who doesn’t know if he’s going to make it to tomorrow. It is the perfect fit for me.”

Rodriguez learned disaster relief skills locally; she honed them globally.

A week after a typhoon with 140-mile-per-hour winds pummeled Guam, Rodriguez deployed to the western Pacific island.

“That really made me step up my game,” she says. “You’re so far away, and I didn’t know anybody. I just packed my bag and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ “

Rodriguez was slated to be a caseworker in Guam, but when she arrived, people on the island were still in shock, happy for a meal or a bed and not yet ready for recovery. So, she dished out food, picked up provisions, and scavenged hotel shampoo and toothbrushes for clients without even a bar of soap.

“The people were the most beautiful, humble, and grateful people I’ve ever known,” Rodriguez says. “That would bring me to tears. These people were living with nothing. But they had a smile and were happy to talk to you.”

Working in disaster areas, where pain and misery are abundant can be emotionally wrenching for even a veteran volunteer. Rodriguez, still a fledgling, became humbled by the Guamanian’s grace under pressure.

“A wave of entitlement has taken over our society,” she says. “Then you step into a world where there aren’t any expectations. These people lost everything, and they were happy to share a half orange with you. I like this side of humanity. I wanted to be there forever and help as many people as I could.”

Rodriguez was reacclimating to home after a month in Guam when Montana erupted in wildfire flames, and she was off again. She flew into Missoula and was tapped to set up a shelter in Plains.

“The mountains were on fire. The smoke was all over you,” she says. “We found the church where we were opening the shelter, and there were people there already covered with soot and dirt.”

However, fewer people than expected needed shelter. It turned out, Montanans take care of their own, and that sometimes means finding stalls for displaced goats and horses.

“Talk about a community pulling together,” Rodriguez says. “People would walk up to us and ask, ‘What do people need? Give me a list.’ They’d show up the next day with ten pairs of reading glasses. I loved Montana.”

On the cusp of turning 60, Rodriguez is a rare volunteer who, in an instant, can deploy to wherever the Red Cross needs her. She realizes, however, that not everyone can abandon their lives for two weeks, the minimum commitment for a deployment.

“My bag is always packed. I’m enjoying the freedom in my personal life to be able to focus it on the mission of the Red Cross.”

When friends express an interest in volunteering for the Red Cross, she explores what they hope to get from the experience.

“If you’re bored, take up pottery because this can be emotionally taxing,” she says. “Volunteering at this level requires a work ethic. You must step up, because people are counting on you. But if you haven’t found fulfillment in your life, take the chance to do something different. You don’t have to do ten things like I do. Do one. Get your feet wet. There is enough room in the Red Cross to fit every personality.”

The holiday season is a time for festivities and family. It’s also a time to give back. This year, you can give a meaningful gift that helps people through some of life’s toughest moments. Please consider making a financial gift this holiday season to bring help and hope. Visit redcross.org/SFLWaystoDonate or text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.

Written by Lisa Kaplan-Gordon/American Red Cross Public Affairs