'More disasters happening' in busy year for Red Cross volunteers from Atlantic region
Canadian Red Cross looks to double number of disaster volunteers to work out of province and at home
2017 has been a "busy year" for Canadian Red Cross volunteers from across Atlantic Canada who were dispatched to disasters around the country.
Now, the charity wants to double its number of volunteers so it can send even more people to emergencies.
It started with the deadly ice storm in New Brunswick, and the extreme weather kept coming with spring flooding in Quebec. A dry summer sparked forest fires out west, especially in B.C., which recorded its worst season of wildfires.
"There's more disasters happening," said Marc Belliveau, the deputy director of disaster management for the Red Cross in Atlantic Canada.
Severe weather events are more frequent, larger and longer in duration — making them complex to manage, Belliveau said.
Recruitment campaign
That has disaster response volunteers from the East Coast repeatedly answering the call for help. They've been dispatched to five weather-related emergencies, and they pitched in when asylum-seekers showed up in droves at the Quebec border.
"We certainly punch above our weight every time," said Belliveau.
There were 135 individual assignments, with many volunteers working more than one. Stints generally last two to three weeks.
The Red Cross is embarking on an aggressive recruitment campaign. It has 900 volunteers from the Atlantic region and wants to double that number in the next year or two.
Most of the region's volunteers are from Nova Scotia, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and P.E.I.
"We need to be ready, and we need to be able to send people at a moment's notice," Belliveau said.
'It was really heartfelt, and I'll never forget that'
Mary Collins knows how busy the disaster response business has been. The 57-year-old volunteer from Dartmouth, N.S., has been sent three times to the B.C. wildfires since July.
"It's so satisfying when you're dealing with people who really don't have any other avenue," said the recent retiree on spending a total of eight weeks assisting hundreds of evacuees around Kamloops, B.C., and Cranbrook, B.C.
Collins registered them in shelters and followed up with one-on-one help for many — including a large Indigenous family that had been displaced. One of the family members had been working on the fire line and gave her "a blessing … a traditional welcome to his community" as a gesture of his appreciation.
"When he left I had to go into the bathroom and cry because I just felt it was really heartfelt, and I'll never forget that."
Collins, whose background is in the air force and skills training, plans to take a break from out-of-province work.
But she'll continue to volunteer doing "bread-and-butter" Red Cross work — providing victims of house and apartment fires with emergency supplies and comfort.
"They can be standing on the sidewalk in their nightgown and nothing else," she said. "I listen. Often that's all they really need."
The busy year of deployments isn't expected to cause volunteers to burn out and quit, Belliveau said. In fact, it has the opposite effect and helps retention.
"It gives them a sense of purpose," said Belliveau. "They feel, 'This is what I signed up for. I can finally go and use my talents either locally or elsewhere.'"
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
