By: Gordon Williams, American Red Cross Volunteer

Around 90 percent of the men and women who work for the American Red Cross in one capacity or another are volunteers. Some are still new to the Red Cross, but some have been around for ages. Among the most senior volunteers in the Red Cross Northwest Region are Michaelle Fries and Liz Schroeder, both of Winlock WA.

Michaelle has been a volunteer since 1996 and Liz has been one since 1988. Both serve the Red Cross in Lewis County WA, which is part of the South Puget Sound and Olympic chapter. Both have served the Red Cross in multiple roles since coming aboard. Both spent years as part of Red Cross Disaster Action Teams (DAT) — the units that bring immediate relief to disaster victims. However, both are now retired from such demanding activities.

If they aren’t disaster responders, what do the two women do for the Red Cross? In fact, the Red Cross offers a tremendous range of volunteer opportunities, and while some can be more physically demanding, many can be carried out no matter what your age or your physical condition.

The Red Cross supplies around 40 percent of all the human blood used in U.S. hospitals, and Liz works as a Red Cross blood ambassador. That means she assists at blood collection drives — signing in donors, collecting vital information, and handing the donors over to the technicians who actually draw the blood.

Michaelle does community outreach for her chapter — handing out disaster preparedness materials, staffing Red Cross tables at parades, fairs and other events. She also spent many years managing the Red Cross office in Lewis County. 

So how did the two become Red Cross volunteers in the first place? Liz spent her professional career working with young school children in Auburn WA. Her family was growing up and she was looking for an activity that would get her out of the house.

“My teenage daughter was driving me crazy,” she said with a smile. 

In 1988, she saw an ad inviting people to volunteer for the Red Cross. So she went to the Red Cross office in Auburn and volunteered. She didn’t know much about the Red Cross, and thought they might ask her to handle nursing duties.

“Instead, they handed me a cap and jacket and said you are going to be a disaster responder," she said. 

Before Michaelle came to the Red Cross, she had spent 31 years with the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, most of those years as a financial specialist.

“I had some friends who were Red Cross volunteers and they told me I should volunteer,” she said.

She did volunteer, and was assigned to a DAT team. Most DAT teams respond to events in their own backyards. Michaelle responded to dozens of disasters in Lewis and adjoining counties. She also traveled to many disaster scenes and worked in shelters the Red Cross opened to house disaster victims. 

Disaster workers may also be called on to deploy to disaster scenes across the country. The disaster may be a hurricane, a flood, or a wildfire. For example, some 6,000 Red Cross workers deployed to Superstorm Sandy in New York City in 2012. 

Liz’s first deployment to a far-off disaster was in 2005, helping out when floods drenched Alabama. Since then she has deployed to events in a half-dozen states. She says the Alabama deployment was her most memorable because it was her first.

“It was all new to me,” she said.

On scene, she drove what the Red Cross calls an ERV — an emergency response vehicle.

“It was hot but gratifying because we were helping people on the ground,” she said. 

Michaelle says she found the Red Cross a perfect fit.

“I spent my life serving people and the Red Cross gave me an opportunity to serve people,” she said. “I was helping bring people back to reality after a disaster, giving them a fresh start.” 

What often helped, she says, was giving a disaster survivor a comforting hug. Often the hug would be spontaneous on the part of the disaster victim — reaching out for comfort after being driven from their homes by flood or fire.

“I never refused a hug, but I always let them come to me,” she said.

As to what the Red Cross means to them — what they both say is they cherish the idea of giving back to their community. Both have lived comfortable, rewarding lives. Both are deeply appreciative of the opportunity the Red Cross allows them, to help others who have been less fortunate.