At 85 and 84 years old, Dick and Carole Beauchamp are still answering the call to help others.

The Flint couple has spent nearly three decades volunteering with the American Red Cross, proving that making an impact has nothing to do with age and everything to do with willingness.

In August, the Beauchamps will celebrate 63 years of marriage. Together, they have raised four children, welcomed 11 grandchildren and enjoy many great-grandchildren. Alongside building a family, they also built a life of service.

Their Red Cross journey began in 1997 after Carole read about a Red Cross volunteer who responded to the Oklahoma City bombing.

“I thought, ‘Well, I can do that. I'm going to be retiring in a couple of years,’” Carole said.

Carole signed up first at her local Red Cross chapter in Flint (now known as the East Central Bay Chapter) as a disaster mental health volunteer. Not long after, Dick followed.

“And I just follow orders,” Dick said, smiling.

Today, Carole serves as the disaster mental health lead for the Michigan Region, where she uses her professional skills as a licensed professional counselor to care for disaster-affected clients. Dick serves as a government operations representative, fostering collaboration between the Red Cross and government partners and ensuring Red Cross actions are aligned with and supportive of government efforts during disasters.

Over the years, Carole has deployed more than 40 times. Her deployments have taken her to some of the nation’s most devastating disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes. After 9/11, she deployed to the Pentagon, where she supported family members waiting for their loved ones to be identified and military members assigned to those families who were also grieving friends they had lost.

Dick has deployed numerous times throughout Michigan and several times out of state, but much of his work has focused on training volunteers alongside Carole before they head into disaster zones.

“You’re doing more than teaching students. You’re establishing community, a camaraderie between people who know when they go out there, they’re not going alone,” Dick said.

Their first deployment came in 1998 after Hurricane Georges devastated Puerto Rico.

“It just literally destroyed everything. There weren't even any road signs. When you got on the expressway from headquarters, you counted the exits because there were no signs,” Dick said.

Before transitioning to logistics, Dick volunteered in finance, processing bills and payments for the chapter. As a business owner, it was work that fit his professional background.

The Beauchamps continue serving in ways that match their strengths.

“We both have a talent that's needed. We still can do it even though we're in advanced ages now,” Carole said.

Carole sees their continued service as proof that volunteering does not have an expiration date.

“It just shows you can do it forever,” she said.

Dick agrees.

“If you have the time, and you have the ability, you don't have the excuse,” he said.

For the Beauchamps, volunteering is not about doing everything. It is about doing something. They may not be able to do what they once did, but they continue adapting their service to fit what they can do now.

“I can do something that I'm trained in, and I can see the world. And I do like to do that. I do like to travel,” Carole said.

After decades of responding to disasters and supporting people through unimaginable loss, one lesson has stayed with Carole throughout every deployment.

“Their environment was at their worst, but the people were at their best,” she said.

Dick and Carole Beauchamp are living proof that age does not limit the ability to serve. Whether you are 25 or 85, there is always a way to help, a skill to offer and someone who needs support.

By Sydney Henry, regional communications manager