The Red Cross

Once I had decided to do something, it was not difficult to decide who I should call. The American Red Cross did an amazing job at public outreach via media outlets. I called my local San Mateo chapter and was told to come in for an informational session Thursday Night.

I attended, however I was sort of surprised at how few people were there. I would have expected the place to be packed, however there were only about 20 people at the meeting. I filled out more paper work than one would need to buy a house, and was told to come back the next day for an interview.

This is a good place to stop and mention how amazing my company, QuinStreet, was about me taking off for an hour or two last minute to attend these meetings and then giving me the time off needed. One of the things that I think our company should take great pride in, is the consistent and impactful commitment it has to the community, both in the Bay Area, and world wide. My boss Nina was especially gracious in letting me take 7 days PTO with 1 day notice.

I showed up the next day for my interview where they asked me a number of questions about my past, my future, and why I wanted to do this. I gave my references to be checked, and was told I had passed. I was to report to the Oakland Red Cross the next morning for intensive training from 8am-5pm. They were going to cram a 3 day training session into 1 day.

Now its important to pause at this point and note that I felt like I was going to be sick for the rest of the day. What had I done? I was about to head directly into the LA, the center of devastation of one of the, if not the, worst national disasters our country has ever seen. They have no running water (still) no electricity (still), which means no air, and its 90-100 degrees there with ridiculous humidity. There is a lack of food, phone service, and in some place...authority. It scared me. But in a way, and that felt good.

I reported to Oakland the next day for training. I am now a certified Red Cross Mass Care Disaster Relief worker. In English that means I have been trained to set up, and run, emergency shelter facilities. The organization is amazing to me. I immediately found a home there. They are a congressional charter who receives NO government funding. All of the money used to run the relief efforts is raised in the private sector and more impressive, 97% of all Red Cross workers, in offices, on scenes etc, are volunteers. It is a family. A family of compassionate people who care enough to give of themselves, and I am proud to now be a part of it. If you would like to donate to the Red Cross click here: https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead

There were all walks of people at the training. I would say that less than 30% of them had a bachelors degree...Which was a new environment for me. I am used to being surrounded with intelligent, educated people. My decision making processes are shared by most of my peers. While working in groups at this session, I realized it was going to be a challenge, and a positive lesson for me to work with a more diverse group of people over the next few weeks.

I met one woman, Jean, who is French. We sort of gravitated towards one an another because we were sort of in the same demographic. She was a representative for a high-end cosmetics company. We sat next to each other, and both set our Chanel sunglasses and Prada purses on the table in front of us. We immediately started laughing...what the hell were we doing here. When hey told us we had to bring boots because of the rats and snakes, she said in jest "how about my Burberry rain boots" I had to laugh. In the end, the nervous anticipation I had the day before was somewhat alleviated, as now I was trained, but the knot in my stomach had not gone away.

Now I was to just wait to be deployed.