By Shima Zormandshahriyari, Northwest Region

Some Red Cross volunteers wear vests. Faith wore fur. And it only added to her charm.

For more than a decade, the yellow Labrador brought comfort to people facing some of their hardest days. Whether in disaster shelters, at community events or simply sitting beside someone in distress, Faith seemed to know exactly when she was needed.

Carol Janssens, a Northwest Chapter Mass Care coordinator and Faith's owner, welcomed Faith into her family when she was just four weeks old. A year later, Faith joined Carol on a flood response in Baton Rouge, beginning what would become years of service alongside the Red Cross.

"We walked into the shelter I was assigned to work at, and Faith went over to a woman and put her head in her lap," Carol said.

The woman later told Carol she had been having a panic attack, and Faith's quiet presence helped calm her. It was one of many moments when Faith helped someone through a difficult situation simply by being there.

For eight years, she accompanied Carol as a service dog, joining her on 28 Red Cross deployments. Her presence brought moments of happiness and comfort to disaster workers, volunteers and shelter residents alike, helping ease the stress that often comes during a disaster response.

While Faith became a familiar presence on deployments, her work helping others extended well beyond Red Cross responses.

For 10 years, she also served as a therapy dog, visiting veterans and offering companionship to those who had served our country.

"Faith always knew when someone needed her," Carol said.

During visits with veterans, she seemed to instinctively know who needed comfort most. On one occasion, she refused to leave the side of a veteran experiencing atrial fibrillation, remaining with him until he calmed down.

These moments defined Faith. She had a remarkable ability to bring calm, comfort and connection to people during difficult times, becoming a beloved member of the Red Cross family and the communities she served.

After years of providing comfort, companionship and healing to others, Faith was diagnosed with cancer and passed peacefully at home, surrounded by love.

Her loss is deeply felt by everyone who knew her, but her legacy lives on in the countless people whose burdens she helped lighten, if only for a moment.