By Maggie Graves
In 2017, I began volunteering with the American Red Cross when I saw the devastating effects Hurricane Harvey was having on the Houston area and I wanted to help in some way. My husband, who was an emergency manager, received an email from a local Red Cross contact asking if he knew anyone who would be interested in deploying to the Houston area. I gladly jumped at the opportunity and was deployed to Houston for two weeks volunteering as an administrative specialist at a Red Cross kitchen.
When I returned from the Harvey deployment on September 30th, the horrific October 1st shooting incident happened in Las Vegas the next day. I immediately signed up for data entry shifts at the Convention Center to help the victims and their families retrieve their belongings that had been left at the shooting site. After helping with that crisis, I decided that I really enjoyed the administrative side of the Red Cross and I began volunteering as a volunteer placement team screener with Volunteer Services and at the Front Desk for the Southern Nevada Chapter. During the pandemic, I still wanted to volunteer so I returned to my position in Volunteer Services where I could volunteer remotely and virtually. I am still active today!
When I volunteered at the front desk, I was a member of the Red Cross Ready Rating Team for the Southern Nevada Chapter helping the chapter become more prepared for emergencies. My husband, Yuri, was the Emergency Manager for the University of Nevada Las Vegas at the time and I asked him to help our team with the chapter’s emergency preparedness because this was his field of expertise. Yuri enthusiastically became a Red Cross volunteer as a member of the Red Cross Ready Rating Team and has been helping the chapter by leading active shooter drills and creating an Emergency Action Plan template that is chapter specific. He has been an integral member of the team and a big asset in helping the chapter become more emergency prepared.
Our sons, Reino and Austin, saw all of the interesting things that Yuri and I were doing as Red Cross volunteers. They, too, wanted to help their community in some way. They both joined the Red Cross as members of Volunteer Services. Reino is an active Volunteer Placement Team member (screener) and Austin assists me with the Regional Volunteer Intake Processing Center scheduling screening appointments and reaching out to potential volunteers.
We, as a family, have always felt that it is important to give back to our community and help others. It’s just the right thing to do! As a prior military family, volunteering was always a great way to connect to our new communities when we were transferred. We have always felt that being a volunteer, in some way, is important for teaching life skills, connecting with our community and we all love to help people! The Red Cross is a great organization and one that we are very proud to be a part of!
Since our positions are mostly virtual at this time, balancing volunteering with work/school obligations has not been an issue. The flexibility of volunteering from home and allows more volunteering time for all of us.
It is our pleasure to be a “Red Cross Family”!