By: Ray Lapine, Northwest Region Volunteer

Kymber Baker is a North Idaho volunteer who gives 100 or so hours a month to the Red Cross. She is busy, but still has time to take on a new task to help North Idaho.

Some days she is a Duty Officer, taking calls requesting help for victims of home fires and other disasters and dispatching Disaster Action Team responders when they are needed.

She sometimes responds to home fire disasters herself, driving as much as an hour and a half to get to the scene.

She is the Government Liaison Officer to the Emergency Management agencies in the five counties in North Idaho, representing the Red Cross when they meet.

And, trained as a law enforcement chaplain, she spends three days a month devoted to spiritual care and deploys when spiritual care is needed.

She is also a Community Volunteer Leader. Her duties in that role include recruiting volunteers in her area.

She does seem to have her hands full, but her biggest frustration right now is: “Not being able to help enough.”

She's talking about needing more volunteers in North Idaho. Which, she says, is a matter of geography. 

“If you are living in Spokane, do you want to drive two hours to an event?” she said. 

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. She says there are now only three volunteers in North Idaho.

“One is me, then one in Benewah and the other Kootenai.” She’d like to have at least 6 in each county.

Encouraged by Lacie Clark, the Executive Director for the Greater Inland Northwest Chapter of the Red Cross, Kymber recently set out to recruit volunteers in each of the five Idaho counties that are part of our Northwest Region, placing volunteers closer to where disasters happen.

Her first strategy was to place recruitment posters throughout establishments in communities like Hayden, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Athol and Dalton Gardens. Her next step is to make personal appeals all over the five-county area.

“This is my passion, to get people involved. So, I am going to go to more community events in all these five counties and try to let people know that they should help. Help yourself and help your community,” she said.

Kymber is confident things will work out.

“Once we get a good group out here, I think we are going to thrive," she said. "And I think the people in Spokane are going to say 'wow, thank you,' I don't have to drive out there.”

Once she has her disaster responders in place, Kymber wants to get them interested in all the other opportunities the Red Cross offers for helping their communities.

“It's satisfying that you are helping someone besides yourself in life," she said. "It's the hug that you get at the end of the day. It's the love."

Get started on your own journey as an American Red Cross Volunteer. Visit our website and see what opportunities are available where you live.