By Sean Corrado, Intern
As February comes to a close, volunteers share their stories of how the Red Cross acts like a family for them and how this family environment keeps the Red Cross Keystone Chapter running smoothly and effectively.
Sandy Cook felt a big void in her life after her children went off to study at Penn State University two years ago. She was the mother bird with an empty nest and wanted to be a part of something significant in the community.
Originally from Birdsboro, Pa., Cook also graduated as a Nittany Lion and earned a degree in Communication. She had a successful job near Mt. Pocono, in which she worked happily in advertising and marketing.
She left her job in the Poconos because her husband, now a retired national park ranger, received a job in the Keystone area. Therefore, the Cook family settled out in Western Pennsylvania on a 200-acre farm.
But when her two children grew out of the farm and made their way to State College, those 200 acres seemed even bigger and Cook had to find a new way to keep herself busy.
“I fell into the Red Cross because of the integrity of the organization,” Cook said. “They seemed to have their act together with their volunteers.”
Cook’s one-year anniversary with the organization passed last month, and she has already proved to be a significant ingredient to the volunteer community. Her keen writing ability and background in marketing has propelled the success of many ideas in the Keystone Chapter. Cook assists with volunteering events, interviews, marketing plans, in-house mail, securing items for silent auction and representing the chapter in many events.
“It was a unique fit,” Cook said of her position with the Red Cross in relation to her previous job experiences and her educational background. “It has been a pleasure working with the organization and to go out in the community and interact with all sorts of people.”
Cook, like Wilson and Rodgers, enjoys the family-like stability in the Keystone Chapter. Cook was able to fill the void left by her growing children with the service that the Red Cross environment brings. Rodgers noted how the organization’s friendly environment allows for the volunteers to work as a team and close together, while Wilson admitted that the Red Cross has been a backbone in his life for several years.
As an organization, the Red Cross may play an important role in each of these volunteers’ lives, but the service and commitment the volunteers have shown the organization are definitely worthy of being spotlighted.
The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information on becoming a volunteer at your local chapter, please visit redcross.org.
