Disaster Health Services Award

Susan Cavanagh: Sue is all that is good and exemplifies the core principles and values of the Red Cross. She has moved into her roll of supervisor and is more than happy to share her knowledge and skills with all new volunteers. Sue always jumps into action and is willing to show up in person at reception centers and shelters.

Sue has not just shared her compassion with our region but has also deployed nationally to Hawaii for 30 days and to Florida after one of its devastating hurricanes. Sue exemplifies everything the Red Cross stands for and she would make Clara Barton proud.

Disaster Mental Health Award

Guissoo Nabavian, Long Island Chapter: Guissoo volunteers because helping people and being there when they are most fragile, most in need, is in her blood, it's who she is. While COVID-19 changed the way we worked as volunteers, Guissoo responded virtually to disasters where necessary, joined the Long Island Disaster Mental Health (DMH) call team where she provided short-term counseling and support to clients in crisis. A licensed psychologist by profession, Guissoo knows how important it is to help neighbors find their way back from tragedy. Recently, Guissoo stepped up to meet with the students and staff of Farmingdale High School after the tragic bus accident upstate New York where a beloved band leader and longtime chaperone were killed. Guissoo, along with a dozen other DMH volunteers, spent days at the school supporting mourning teens, teachers and other staff who were all impacted by this heart wrenching loss. The DMH team Guissoo was part of had such an impact, they were honored by the school, the town and local government officials who had never witnessed such a professional outpouring of support.

Helaine Shimel, Metro NY North Chapter: Helaine began her Red Cross journey after 40+ year career with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. She has lived by a personal mission of service to others and knew she would find kindred spirits at Red Cross. She quickly became an integral part of the team. Helaine is one of the first to go to a shelter or reception center and has participated in two of our most recent Integrated Condolence Care Teams.

Madelyn Miller, Greater New York Chapter: Madelyn has been a devoted volunteer for Disaster Mental Health (DMH) for 27 years. Not only does she have a thriving private practice, but she also serves on the DMH Leadership Team giving wise counsel to all of our volunteers and setting strong goals for DMH. She is consistently a voice for improving the manner DMH delivers assistance to our clients. Madelyn is a member of the Integrated Condolence Care Team, working with many of the most heartbreaking situations that we all deal with as part of our Red Cross mission. Her background in bereavement counseling lends itself to this position and enables her to give extraordinary help to this population.

Her skill in helping people process grief shows in this setting as she helps all of us honor and remember many of our colleagues.

Disaster Preparedness Award

Helene Link, Long Island Chapter: Helene has never refused a request to volunteer when asked, has brought our preparedness message to a large number of Long Island communities, and uses a variety of teaching methods to help people understand the Red Cross message. Helene goes above and beyond the typical power-point presentation. During an online presentation teaching about Hurricanes, Helene set up an experiment in her kitchen with water to demonstrate what happens during a storm surge. Helene takes on a leadership role by calling new volunteers and making sure they are engaged and happy with their Red Cross roles. The preparedness team would not be as successful on Long Island without her commitment.

Steve McNeal, Metro NY North Chapter: Steve has been a Red Cross volunteer since July 2021, serving the Red Cross in a variety of roles since joining and bringing his experience as a veteran to the organization. He has contributed to the Metro NY North Red Cross Community Preparedness efforts significantly as a key member of the Home Fire Campaign. Steve regularly supports weekly daily operations, installing hundreds of alarms and bed shakers in Rockland and Westchester County homes. Steve has developed a method to install smoke alarms so that they are perfectly straight, teaching other team members, providing a serious advantage for our clients that demand perfection, Steve delivers that excellent Red Cross experience. 

Katriel Bush, Greater New York Chapter: Katriel is full-on disaster preparedness — volunteering, providing excellent service in the Community Preparedness programs, Home Fire Campaign, the Pillowcase Project, Citizen Preparedness Corps, and/or Community Preparedness Education right along with our regional leadership. She stepped out of her AmeriCorps position and has kept going and giving in this line of service with the same gusto. Katriel has impacted or improved the lives of members of our workforce and the community alike, especially the vulnerable or less capable individuals. She has consistently demonstrated persistent initiative, commitment, and leadership. She commits herself to unselfish, ongoing volunteer work, and gained the admiration of her peers and leader who acknowledges her leadership. She has emerged as an inspiration to volunteers and shines as a regional preparedness leader, with the ability to coordinate, supervise, and deliver preparedness programs.

Disaster Cycle Services Award

Esther Morell, Long Island Chapter: Esther started her volunteer service in 2021. In that time, she has been diligent in taking the training that would prepare her to help others. Once training was completed, she not only achieved one GAP, but several across all groups and activities. Her goal of helping others began with the local response and expanded to national deployments. In her short time at Red Cross, she has deployed to floods, wildfires, tornadoes and humanitarian border assignments. In addition to her responses, she works with volunteer services in bringing in new Red Cross members and is often recruited for interpretation assignments. Esther is always willing to learn and help out wherever needed. Whether it’s the Home Fire Campaign or a disaster in Hawaii, she is proactive in raising her hand to go. She is truly an asset to the American Red Cross.

Linda Latona, Metro NY North Chapter: Linda has held three key very active roles in the chapter: Metro NY North Chapter Coordinator for Disaster Mental Health (DMH), Disaster Action Team (DAT), and DMH Supervisor — each of which involves public-facing support and leading volunteers who work with people affected by disasters. Linda is highly respected and appreciated by everyone she interacts with. She can quickly mobilize key on-site team members on short notice – selecting those who can support client calls, those who likes to support the Red Cross workforce as well as those who are available for national deployment. She is gifted in building strong personal relationships and cultivating the best skillsets of her colleagues.

Julio Medina, Greater New York Chapter: Mr. Jack-of-All-Trades, the person everyone calls on for help — that's Julio, a.k.a. "Funky Cold”, Medina that is. He is everyone's loveable brother-from-another-mother. We see him demonstrating imaginative and extraordinary achievements to meet the preparedness, response or recovery goals of our region and the disaster-related needs of individuals and communities and believe he deserves recognition for all the work he gives to the cycle and the mission for NYC. Julio is an exemplary Disaster Specialist who is client-focused and acts with integrity, dedication and perseverance.

As a transparent guardian of the public trust and honor our promises leading to exceptional service delivery, we couldn't ask for more from Julio to keep up the excellence as a Disaster Cycle Services superhero.

Duty Officer Excellence Award

Priscilla Schaefer: Priscilla embodies the word excellence. For the past four years, she has volunteered 24-36 hours almost every week as a duty officer and has logged over 4,000 volunteer hours in that role. She also serves as a DAT Supervisor. Professional and savvy, she is clear-thinking in the heart-thumping times of crisis when a disaster is unfolding. She is incredibly reliable, calm, insightful and communicative, all while being compassionate and kind. She always looks for ways to make difficult responses more caring and humane. Time and time again, Priscilla goes the extra mile to make responses smoother. To call her a quarterback extraordinaire is not an exaggeration.

Blood Services Award

Ashley Flowers: Ashley is an inspirational member of the Red Cross Donor Ambassador Team. She goes above and beyond the call of duty as a volunteer. Ashley consistently covers blood drives, steps up at last-minute and provides exceptional service to our donors. Ashley is also a sickle cell advocate and has even helped us coordinate sickle cell drives. She is value driven, caring and compassionate. Ashley has shared her inspirational story at volunteer meetings and has been an incredible Drive Diversity/Sickle Cell ambassador.

We are so grateful for her dedication and commitment and in awe of her altruism. She has had an immense impact on the quality of our program services over her two-years of service.

Volunteer Services Award

Anthony Incorvaia: Anthony is a great worker and volunteer. He can be counted on to help at any time and is willing to do anything needed. He is truly one of the people that is always working and talking Red Cross.

Howard Moi: Howard is a person who makes you feel at home and part of a winning team. He takes the time to talk to you and other team members across all lines of service and has been actively involved with the Red Cross for over 20 years. He willingly works the evening and overnight shifts more often on the weekends, which are the most challenging and under the most adverse conditions. He has faithfully performed in this capacity for so many years, he is a true example of loyalty and dedication.

Outstanding Red Cross High School and Campus Club Award

Stuyvesant High School: Stuyvesant High School's Red Cross Club has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the Red Cross mission. They actively participated in the Youth Action Campaign (YAC), educating their peers about critical global issues and advocating for positive change. Their efforts extended to the ‘Totes for Hope’ program, where they crafted thoughtful cards and prepared totes filled with essentials for those in need, demonstrating their dedication to helping vulnerable communities. Additionally, the club consistently engaged in monthly initiatives, showing their ongoing commitment to various causes and consistently supporting Red Cross projects. Their involvement in park clean-ups further highlighted their dedication to community service, as they took proactive steps to improve their local environment. These combined efforts reflect the club’s outstanding leadership, teamwork, and unwavering dedication to the Red Cross mission.

Emerging Leader Award

Lena Krug: Like a superhero, Lena pivots between her day job as a Chief Technology Officer to an uber-Red Crosser. Our world changed when Lena joined Red Cross. She serves on call 24-30 hours a week as a DAT supervisor and works 18-24 hours a week as a Duty Officer. She’s also active as a Shelter Supervisor and has been a game changer for Disaster Assessment. She quickly scaled the learning curve to become a leader in large and difficult responses. She’s been a key person on five escalated responses and changed the landscape of our operations with her insights, professionalism, tech abilities, problem solving skills and infectious can-do spirit. Her email tag line expresses her kindness and compassion: “How can I show up for you?” Both on and off scene, she’s a terrific mentor and manager.

Pacesetter Award

Bowen Yu, Long Island Chapter: Bowen has held a number of roles at this point: starting as an AmeriCorps doing preparedness activities along with training and exercises, transitioning to a Disaster Workforce Engagement (DWE) volunteer who sometimes deploys in Logistics, then a Temporary Disaster Employee in Maui after an extended volunteer deployment in Staff Planning and Support, Staff Relations and other workforce roles, and now recently back to volunteering with DWE. Even while Bowen was away in Maui for almost 10 months, he maintained his connection to Greater New York - calling in to meetings and offering his support and advice where he could. Prior to leaving for Maui, Bowen helped organize a Disaster Event Based Volunteer Workshop that brought the DWE and Volunteer Services teams together to learn and discuss this plan. Bowen put so much care into organizing the workshop, the materials he developed were extremely detailed and thorough and it was a wonderful example of collaboration between our two teams.

David Gonsalves, Metro NY North Chapter: David has been a Red Cross Metro NY North team member since October 2020 and has served the mission in a variety of activities. David is a Community Engagement & Partnerships Supervisor, Sheltering Supervisor, Home Fire Campaign Co-Lead, Emergency Response Vehicle Driver, and so much more. He's a consummate diplomat: calming anxious, stressed, and sometimes angry people with his kind and gentle demeanor. David exhibits a willingness to go outside his comfort zone and adapt to the situation at hand. David also represents the Red Cross when interacting with the community as he has done at community tabling events. He is truly a Red Cross Pacesetter in all that he does to support the community and the Red Cross Mission.

Henry Jin, Greater New York Chapter: After finishing a project with the Greater New York Regional Chief Operating Officer, Henry decided to continue volunteering as a youth volunteer. Henry has proven to be a tremendous asset to the American Red Cross. He exemplifies philanthropy and is truly altruistic with his time and talents. What he has started so early in life, we can only imagine what a great difference he will make in the world as he continues to participate and lead in his philanthropic endeavors.

Rising Star Award

Mary Dwyer, Metro NY North Chapter: Mary Dwyer joined the American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign (HFC) in December 2023, immediately becoming a vital team member. Mary took the initiative to evaluate the appointment, communication, and data management systems to investigate ways to improve manual and time-consuming processes and implement best practices. This led to significant improvements in scheduling and results reporting. Mary’s skillful and timely communications, organizational process improvements and data management excellence has contributed significantly to the success of the Metro NY North Home Fire Campaign Team. Mary continues to develop innovative ideas that enhance both the client and the volunteer experience.

Sean McNerney, Greater New York Chapter: Since he became a volunteer in December 2023, Sean has embraced the work he started as an AmeriCorps and has continued to demonstrate consistent commitment to all his roles but also quick growth toward increased levels of responsibility, levels of leadership and sphere of impact. These volunteers are hard to come by, especially those on cusps of formal leadership roles but we see the future is very bright for Sean's emergency management career and American Red Cross career. Sean's volunteer work is hard to look at and describe without “aw...he's only been with us volunteering for NYC less than a year” — but it's true.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Davison Memorial Award

PJ Tedeschi: In the book The Prison Meditations of Alfred Delp, there is quote that reads "If through one life there is a little more love and kindness, a little more light and truth in the world, that person's life has had meaning." PJ is just that person. A licensed clinical social worker, she volunteers as a Disaster Mental Health (DMH) counselor, serving as a supervisor and Deputy Lead for DMH on Long Island. PJ is filled with the same spirit of generosity and selflessness as Kate and Henry Davison, the pillars of The American Red Cross on Long Island at the turn of the 20th Century, for whom this award is named. Since joining the Red Cross in 2015, PJ has met clients where they suffered, both locally after home fires and in shelters on Long Island during hurricanes and flooding and nationally at some of the most horrific Disaster Response Operations for which American Red Cross services have ever been requested. PJ's first engagement was to the aftermath of an active shooter scene in Las Vegas in 2017. She has since also deployed to Parkland, FL, Uvalde, TX and Lewiston, ME. Similar to the Davisons, PJ a pillar of the Long Island Disaster Mental Health team. PJ espouses the most fundamental principle of the American Red Cross, humanity. She acts to prevent and alleviate human suffering by respecting people's dignity and helping them, regardless of who and where they are. When people are at their lowest, PJ brings a little more love and kindness, more light and truth into people's lives as the face of the American Red Cross.

Gene Malkis Award

John Angulat: John was a gamechanger for Red Cross when he joined in 2018. Like Gene Malkis, he inspires and spurs others to do more, learn more. His can-do spirit is infectious. So much so that the Metro NY North Chapter tapped him co-Lead for the Westchester/Greenwich Disaster Action Team just six months into his volunteer journey. Because he lives the scout motto to always be prepared and to help people at all times, he is a credible and motivating leader. John is all about teamwork. John was appointed the Greater NY Regional Program Lead and represented our region at conference in Phoenix, and he was just certified as a disaster instructor so that he can support the region with the latest DAT trainings. John, you are an inspiration to us all! Thank you for your incredible service!  

Henri Dunant Leadership Award

Alexis Morledge, Long Island Chapter: Alexis began volunteering with the Red Cross in 2022 after being recruited by a friend. She initially joined the Long Island Gala planning committee and since then, has served as chair of the Long Island Heroes Celebration in both 2023 and 2024, joined the Long Island Board in Spring 2024, and has also helped to install smoke alarms, attended volunteer recognition events, supported community tabling events, and shared preparedness information with community members.

She is an active participant in all meetings she attends, providing suggestions, connections and thoughtful feedback. She has made it her mission to increase the visibility of the Red Cross on Long Island by sharing opportunities for partnership with the Chapter CEO. Alexis is well liked and respected by her committee. She has open and honest communication, is collaborative in her work and is passionate about the mission. She can be very persuasive and moves people to action. Time spent in her development career helps her to have a holistic view of our work and the role we play on Long Island. She drives us all to be better and do better in our community.  

Marilyn Touissant, Metro NY North Chapter: For the past six years, Marilyn has served as the Metro NY North Recovery Casework Team Coordinator. She leads a small but mighty group of caseworkers who follow up with disaster survivors to see if they need additional support. Under her tutelage, the team provides help to nearly 500 families/cases a year, making a tremendous difference with their compassion, timely contact, guidance, and in many cases, with funds. Over her 10 years with Red Cross, she’s often put in 40 hours a week not only with casework but also with the Home Fire Campaign, as a Blood Drive ambassador and most recently with Volunteer Services. Like Henri Dunant, Marilyn believes volunteers are the life force of the Red Cross – and that our workforce should be representative of the community. Marilyn always provides a welcoming smile, friendly demeanor and speaks eloquently about the work of Disaster Cycle Services and encourages others to join the Red Cross lifesaving mission.

Rick Gottlieb, Greater New York Chapter: Rick has been an advocate for American Red Cross for 15 years. He has never done this work to seek gains and recognition but deserves it as one of our strongest NYC volunteers who has sustained superior and outstanding leadership in their role for so long and demonstrated the highest degree of collaboration, broad strategic thinking and inspiring others toward delivering on our mission. He has worked across the lines on many disaster scenes in front of the clients and the public as well as behind the scenes internally. Rick is known for cultivating innovation to find and champion the best creative ideas and solutions and move them into implementation as well as meeting increasingly challenging responsibilities while taking an active role in developing others toward leadership. We are so grateful for all he has done undisclosed and on the record, Rick embodies the visionary leadership of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross movement. We couldn't have a better champion than Rick for Greater New York!

Clara Barton Honor Award for Meritorious Volunteer Leadership

Joy Weaver, Long Island Chapter: Since becoming a volunteer in 2007, Joy has demonstrated an exceptional dedication to the needs of those impacted by disaster. She has established herself as an indispensable component of the Disaster Mental Health (DMH) Long Island team. She is humble, kind, widely respected and beloved by the DMH Long Island Leadership Team. Joy espouses those attributes so important to the humanitarian cause of the Red Cross. She is empathic, inclusive, committed and nonjudgmental. Joy provides mentorship in RC Cares documentation and assigns the appropriate volunteer for a call. She has worked on developing the protocol for the team and writes a monthly summary of contact. Her role is clear: oversee all DMH support calls to clients and workforce. Joy Weaver is an incredible volunteer and individual who is distinguished by her devotion to helping those in need. Similar to Clara Barton, Joy Weaver's instinct is to move towards disaster and serve. We are so fortunate to have her as a member of the American Red Cross.

Debora Bausenwein, Metro NY North Chapter: Deb has made outstanding contributions over 27 years to Red Cross in Disaster Cycle Services, Community Engagement, Blood Services, Youth Programs and Service to the Armed Forces. When Deb started as a Red Crosser in her county in 1997, she immediately became a bedrock volunteer. She recruited new volunteers, helped those displaced by fires and floods, assisted at blood drives, supported Service to the Armed Forces, gave preparedness presentations and was an adviser for a middle school and high school Red Cross club. Over the years, she helped get the region ready for big disasters by working long days at the warehouse. And she prepared herself: over the last three years alone, her training transcripts show she has taken over a hundred courses. Compassion is what drives Deb. Focused on the “need,” Deb is incredibly flexible. Well versed at working in adverse conditions and keeping her chin up, Deb has served on over ten Level 2-5 Disaster Relief Operations in just the last five years. Her go-bag is packed and by the door, so she can, with just minutes notice, go on a month deployment as a Feeding Manager/Supervisor.

Phil Cogan, Greater New York Chapter: Phil is a volunteer who has served in several leadership positions held over a period of years and whose has demonstrated compassionate service and extraordinary achievements in various activities, initiatives or projects that have greatly benefited our community or organization. He does exhibit pioneering leadership qualities of our founder and president, Clara Barton. Phil has quantifiable achievements in leading and managing multiple volunteer teams, delivering on organizational goals and using their interpersonal savvy to build professional relationships that benefit our volunteers, staff and clients — particularly in his roles with the Emergency Communication Center, Disaster Action Team, ETF, and Regional Program Lead for RC Respond but certainly as the volunteer partner for our Deputy Regional Disaster Officer. Phil demonstrates the highest level of managerial effectiveness across multiple disciplines and models the highest standards of honesty and integrity.

Tess Sheil Award

Fernando Morales: There really are very few and far between staffers who can come close to embodying the qualities that made Tess Sheil's service to the American Red Cross so exceptional. This Greater New York volunteer demonstrates Tess’s significant presence in several lines of service, alignment to the mission, longevity with the organization, and spirit of mentoring. Fernando fits this as he has volunteered with the American Red Cross for nearly 19 years, demonstrating enthusiasm and kindness in service, and living the 5 C's: collaborative, compassionate, credible, committed, and creative. Note, Fernando worked with and had been a trusted colleague of Tess too, so he is cut from that same cloth. He is as he describes, Red Crossing 24/7, everyday — all day, Red Crossing and known for that across lines of service, inside the region, outside the region, and even outside the organization. If that doesn't convince you alone, he fell in love with the mission and drank the Kool-Aid when American Red Cross was amidst Hurricane Katrina and through so many trials and tribulations challenges and tests, he still stays with us wearing multiple hats of leadership and delivers for NYC one of the busiest operations in American Red Cross nationwide. We are so proud to serve with him and have him leading excellently.

Dottie Brier Award

Felicia Fried: It is with gladness that Felicia Fried is nominated for an award honoring our dear Dottie. Dottie would likely enjoy working alongside and knowing Felicia. Dottie often would say "remember Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" and "we have to meet the basic needs of our clients and volunteers." Dr. Benjamin Maslow developed an assessment of human needs, theorizing that basic needs are first met before a client can move to higher psychological needs. His theory is relevant for this nomination to explain why Dottie gave that as a guide for Red Cross volunteers. When Dottie mentored people, she would refer to the Red Cross addressing those first needs of safety, hydration, nutrition and support after a traumatic disaster. Felicia is a strong advocate for those sentiments. When Felicia speaks with her casework recipients, she will ask how they are managing the stress and offer a Disaster Mental Health (DMH) call. Our Disaster Action Team responders also offer this in the field, but the shock of the moment can mask the emotional impact of a fire and Felicia is aware that her follow up calls can make the difference between connecting someone to mental health support or not. Felicia is directly considering all the needs of our clients and consistently refers her clients to DMH. We are grateful to work alongside such an advocate and to know her as a fellow volunteer.