By: Russ Lang, Red Cross Volunteer

Nora Gause of Columbia, SC, has been a phlebotomist with the Biomedical line of service of the American Red Cross of South Carolina for the past two years. Nora says she loves working for the Red Cross, “it allows me the opportunity to give back to the community.”

Nora’s appreciation and passion for the Red Cross stems, in part, from a personal tragedy she experienced and the support she was given by the Red Cross.

On June 7, 2005, Nora was working for the State of South Carolina when she received a call from her neighbor who lived at her same apartment complex. Her neighbor said there had been a fire and several of the apartments had been heavily damaged, including Nora’s. Nora left work immediately and headed home.

“It seemed to take forever to get there,” Nora said, anxiously wondering how much damage the fire caused. 

Nora was 24 years old at the time of the fire and was so proud that she was living in her first “real” apartment. “My whole world was in that apartment,” said Nora. When Nora arrived at the scene, her worst fears were realized. Not only her Nora’s apartment destroyed, five other apartments were declared uninhabitable. 24 people, in total, were displaced. The on-scene Fire Chief said the fire was started by a lightning strike, and if not for a heavy rain, the damage would have been much worse. In all, the fire caused $750,000 in damage. 

The Red Cross was requested to the scene to provide aid to everyone impacted. The response team immediately provided essential items to Nora, including housing vouchers, personal comfort kits, and financial aid. They also offered mental health and spiritual care to everyone involved. What Nora appreciated most of all was the compassion, understanding, and support she received from the Red Cross responders. 

“I’ll never forget what the Red Cross did for me that day and working for them now is a small way of saying thank you,” said Nora.

The American Red Cross responds to over 60,000 disasters nationwide every year. The vast majority of these incidents are home fires. The Red Cross stands ready to support anyone impacted by disasters.

To learn more about Red Cross disaster response and how you can get involved, visit redcross.org/DAT.