By Dan Dowling – regional communications manager

“It's having that camaraderie of having people from all over the country come in together to lend a hand and get people through something that is so traumatic.”

Rachelle LeVau began her volunteering journey with the American Red Cross in November 2019, a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world. Residing in Fairfax, Vermont, Rachelle found herself drawn to the Red Cross disaster response team, a specialized team trained to respond to emergencies 24/7, offering comfort and support to those displaced by disasters.

I jumped right into it. I loved it because it was so flexible and it allowed me to volunteer at the level that I felt like I could contribute,” Rachelle recalls.

After a year of volunteering locally, responding to home fires in the Burlington area, she felt a growing interest in national disaster response.

“I started hearing more and more about deploying to national disasters, and I really wanted to do that,” she says. “It’s so hard to find two weeks to be able to just check out of your daily life and go do something.”

The Vermont floods in July 2023, which occurred in her home state, provided Rachelle with her first opportunity to deploy to a large-scale disaster.

“I heard about deploying locally and I thought that that was really intriguing because it was a little bit less commitment.”

Following the Vermont floods, Rachelle found ways to continue contributing to the Red Cross, while balancing her work and personal commitments. Then a change at work provides even more flexibility to pursue her desire to volunteer more.

“I was really glad for the way that I could step in at certain points in my life when I could contribute a little bit more and then step back when I was not able to contribute more because of family commitments,” she shares.

Her deployment to Hurricane Lee in New Hampshire in October 2023 marked a significant turning point. Between work assignments, Rachelle volunteered and was truly hooked on disaster deployment.

This past summer, during another round of flooding in Vermont, Rachelle helped staff a shelter in Lyndonville. The excitement and positive energy of being part of a larger effort to help people recover from disasters have left a lasting impact on her.

“There’s just such a positive energy to be coming in and helping people through one of the hardest things they're ever going to deal with,” says Rachelle.

Rachelle appreciates the Red Cross’s extensive experience in disaster response and relief, noting how effectively they utilize its volunteers.

“The Red Cross has been doing this for so many years. They know exactly what to do. They know how to keep me safe and know how to make sure I have everything I need. They know how to put me in the right situation so that I am helping somebody and contributing to the bigger picture,” she explains.

Rachelle’s most recent deployment was to aid in the recovery from Hurricane Helene in September and October 2024. She drove a Red Cross van ensuring shelters had the supplies they needed to support the residents forced from their home by floodwaters. t. Her role often involved daily travel to communities cut off by the storm.

“At night you would drive through entire towns that were just dark. They did not have power, and trees and power lines were down all over,” she recalls.

She says the gratitude of the townspeople was apparent every day, “I had a lot of people who would see the Red Cross vests and say, ‘Thank you so much for coming here.’ I think the most exciting thing was to see how the communities were coming together.”

This January, the Red Cross asks you to consider giving the gift of your time and resolving to help people in need as a volunteer. Depending on your interests, the Red Cross offers a variety of volunteer opportunities. Volunteers like Rachelle make up 90% of the Red Cross workforce.

As more people look to the Red Cross for support, the need to help has never been greater. Join us to provide relief and hope when it matters most. Visit redcross.org/volunteer and get started today.

Rachelle is ready to respond to the next disaster, embodying the spirit of volunteerism and compassion that defines the Red Cross.

“I’m trying to figure out how I can get out there to volunteer for the next one.” she says.