“When I joined the Red Cross and saw how much good this organization does, I thought, ‘This makes sense’ and I am glad to be a part of it.” -Darlene Huntinghouse
Home fires are not new to Darlene Huntinghouse. As a retired firefighter, she helped battle numerous fires in the Chicagoland area during her career. Now, she helps the people who have been affected by them, as a disaster volunteer for the American Red Cross in the South Central Illinois chapter of the Illinois region.
“When we would have big fires there, the Red Cross canteen would come out. I was amazed by that and thought, ‘They are here for us?’ I thought, ‘When I retire, I’m going to look into helping out,’ because it just amazed me, and still does,” Darlene said.
Darlene joined the team as a volunteer in September 2022 and enjoys having the opportunity to help the people she meets.
“I’ve been on the other side of it, going to put out a fire,” she said. “Now, I see how devastating it is to people. They’ve lost everything, and I just see the need to offer people something.”
In addition to responding to disasters, Darlene recently helped organize volunteer recruitment events scheduled for April 5-6 in the Marion, Illinois area, in an effort to bring new volunteers on board. Please click the link to sign up for these events. She also has recruited several new volunteers from her personal network.
We are grateful for Darlene’s dedicated efforts as a Red Crosser! Visit redcross.org/volunteer to join Darlene on the volunteer team.
Written by Illinois Region Communications Manager Brian Williamsen
Getting involved helped Allyson Gillette get some help for college.
Allyson was looking for volunteer opportunities and decided to host an American Red Cross blood drive in Chillicothe, Illinois last December. She earned a $1,000 scholarship as a result of her lifesaving efforts.
As part of the Red Cross Leaders Save Lives program, the senior at Illinois Valley Central helped collect 33 blood donations. Allyson was entered into a drawing for a scholarship and was chosen as a winner.
The continual need for blood donations inspired Allyson to host the blood drive.
“I would absolutely encourage any student to host a blood drive. This experience was very rewarding and there is truly no greater feeling than knowing you are saving lives.” -Allyson Gillette
Allyson is set to graduate high school in May 2023. She plans to attend college and major in nursing.
“I was very excited to be informed that my blood drive was selected as one of the scholarship winners,” Allyson said. “I am very thankful to the American Red Cross for the opportunity to host a blood drive and be rewarded with the scholarship!”
The Leaders Save Lives program encourages community-minded high school and college students to host blood drives to help maintain the blood supply for patients in need of lifesaving transfusions.
Students can sign up to host blood drives and potentially qualify to earn a scholarship during seasonal timeframes throughout the year. Visit RedCrossBlood.org/LeadersSaveLives for more information.
Here is how the program works:
– Sign up to host a blood drive while school is out of session. – Form a recruitment committee to help make your blood drive a success. – Recruit your friends, family and the community to donate at your blood drive. – Collect 25 pints or more at your blood drive and you will earn a gift card and be entered to win a scholarship!
Download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 800-RED CROSS to make an appointment. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Thank you for rolling up a sleeve!
Written by Illinois Region Communications Manager Brian Williamsen
“When I first applied here, I didn’t really understand what the Red Cross was. I found that after working here for a few years, this is where I would prefer to spend the rest of my career.” -Tesha Moore
Tesha Moore started working for the American Red Cross at the age of 19. She is a collections team supervisor in the Illinois region, who regularly travels to different blood drive locations. We caught up with her at the blood and platelet donation center in Bloomington.
“I enjoy traveling and actually, prefer to travel,” Tesha said. “I like meeting new people all the time; being able to be supportive and communicate with our donors and build relationships with them is nice.”
As part of her role, Tesha gets to speak with donors as they arrive at the blood drives. Sometimes, donors are a little hesitant. Tesha reassures them, and says she enjoys the interactions with donors.
“I really enjoy seeing people I got to meet come back and become repeat donors, especially young people,” Tesha said. “We need the younger generation to donate. I like going to a high school blood drive and then seeing the students coming out in the future to donate blood.”
Tesha encourages everyone to give blood. Her role with the Red Cross has given her a firsthand look at the importance of donating blood, and she is a strong advocate for rolling up a sleeve.
“I always think about it like, ‘What if my family member had to go to the hospital and needed blood and there wasn’t any available?’ You just don’t know what your day-to-day life holds, and you could be the one who needs blood one day. So, it’s really just a simple task we can do as humans to donate blood – especially, because only three percent of the community donates.” -Tesha Moore
Thank you for your hard work and dedication, Tesha! Visit redcrossblood.org to make an appointment – you just might see Tesha while you’re there.
Written by Illinois Region Communications Manager Brian Williamsen
There are countless of ways to get involved with the Red Cross. You may see Red Cross volunteers responding to disasters in your neighborhood or across the country. Perhaps you are a blood donor and you’ve been greeted by a blood ambassador, maybe you had a free smoke detector installed in your home through our Sound the Alarm program, or maybe you took a First Aid Training Course. In addition to the more visible volunteer roles at the Red Cross, there is a core group of volunteers that dedicate their time and expertise in the Red Cross Restoring Family Links program and you don’t often hear about their work.
For more than 150 years, the Red Cross’s Restoring Family Links program has helped reconnect separated families and address the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict, natural disasters, migration, and other situations. Families suffer greatly when their loved ones remain unaccounted for, and families must learn to live with uncertainty. It is this uncertainty that Red Cross Restoring Family Links caseworkers work ardently to resolve.
The Red Cross of Illinois is proud to have a stellar group of volunteers whose behind-the-scenes work brings joy and closure to families around the world. Meet Restoring Family Links Caseworkers Margo Dudewicz, Susie Mazaheri, Monica Agler and Mallory Smith.
Monica Agler has been a volunteer with the Red Cross for over 12 years. Monica started with the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces and moved to Restoring Family Links when this program evolved.
“Every role I’ve had with the Red Cross has been gratifying. Through Restoring Family Links, I have had the opportunity to resolve cases by locating loved ones and providing closure to families who’ve lived in anguish over not knowing what happened to their family member. Most currently, I was assigned to a case of a family who fled Iraq and they lost touch with their son who went back to Iraq to retrieve his grandmother. I have 15 years of tracking to follow, but I’m determined to bring this family peace.”
Susie Mazaheri is the Restoring Family Links Regional Lead for the Red Cross of Illinois. Susie has been with the Red Cross since 2008 with the majority of her time as a Disaster Mental Health professional. You can find Susie volunteering locally or across the country aiding those affected by disasters, but her work in Restoring Family Links is always in the back of her mind and part of her days. See more from Susie here.
“Our work through the Restoring Family Links program is so important and can be done from any part of the country. My motivation is knowing that the people we help have been through so much trauma, yet they maintain that glimmer of hope of locating and reuniting with their loved one. Like the mother in Honduras who lost touch with her young son as he migrated and found himself in a detention center. Because of the incredible Red Cross network, we were able to give that mother the closure she had been waiting for, for so long. I put myself in her shoes and can only hope that someone would want to help me find the ending to my story if ever I found myself in a similar situation.”
Margot Dudewicz has been a volunteer with the American Red Cross serving the Quad Cities and West Central Illinois since 2017. Margot, whose husband is a member of the U.S. Army, first joined the Red Cross through its Service to the Armed Forces. Margot’s love for research, genealogy, and helping people connected her to Restoring Family Links.
“The Red Cross is so much more than what people think they are — globally, the Red Cross cares about families — especially families who become separated. Like the Ugandan sister living in DeKalb whose brother was missing for 20 years. After connecting her with her brother who she thought deceased – the emotions and joy I witnessed when they connected is something I will never forget and are my motivation to do everything I can when I get a case to make the connection or find that family more information. The stories and people I get to work with are so powerful and inspire me to give back.”
Mallory Smith has been a Red Cross volunteer since 2019. Mallory is an aerospace engineer and contractor with NASA. During her free time, Mallory works on reconnecting families and uses her engineering and love of data mining to help connect families. Hear more from Mallory here.
“Working in Restoring Family Links takes perseverance—not giving up on a lead because you know that your work, when successful, will have a massive impact on someone’s life.”
“We could absolutely not do this work without our volunteers. The passion and dedication they have for helping families is incredible. The creativity and resourcefulness shown by our entire Restoring Family Links team makes a huge impact in the lives of families all around the world,” shares Crystal Smith, Service to the Armed Forces/International Services Regional Program Director.
The American Red Cross Restoring Family Links program assists individuals and families who are separated internationally by war, disaster, migration, political events and other humanitarian circumstances in re-establishing contact.
When families are separated internationally by armed conflict, disaster, migration and other humanitarian emergencies the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network can help to do the following:
Locate missing family members
Restore and maintain family communications
Provide war-time documentation of internment and/or documentation on the fate of missing family members
If you live in the United States and are seeking information about someone you’ve been unable to contact due to a recent disaster in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, please visit American Red Cross’s Contact and Locate Loved Ones page. This information is also available in Spanish to search for your loved one.
If you are looking for a family member living abroad who is not a US citizen, please submit your inquiry here.
To all of our dedicated Red Cross Volunteers, thank you. Your dedication, compassion, and willingness to give your time and service upholds the mission of the Red Cross to alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies.
Doug Harrison of Peoria has volunteered for the American Red Cross as a Blood Transportation Specialist for the past 15 years.
As a Transportation Specialist volunteer, Doug is the critical link between blood donors and blood recipients by delivering blood, platelets or other blood products to hospitals.
“This is a lifesaving job,” he says.
Formerly a printing press operator, Doug decided to start volunteering when his full-time job was eliminated. On average, he is called to deliver blood products two or three times a week – it’s a call he is always happy to take.
Doug also volunteers at blood drives and says, he just likes being able to do something for other people.
“I enjoy it. I’m giving back to the community; that there, in itself, makes me feel good.” -Doug Harrison
Sasha-Welch Moore’s heroic actions helped save a life. She performed CPR on a man at her gym in Peoria who had stopped breathing. As a result, the man survived and continues to have an opportunity to live his life.
Sasha is one of our valued team members here in the Illinois region. Recently, we had the honor of presenting her with the Certificate of Merit, the highest award given by the Red Cross, for her lifesaving efforts – Red Cross Illinois Region CEO, Celena Roldán presented the award to Sasha during a staff retreat. Congratulations and thank you, Sasha!
Lily Leduc’s father came to live with her in 2017. She wanted to learn how to best care for him, so she took a certified nursing assistant training course, offered by the American Red Cross.
Now, Lily volunteers for the Red Cross in the Quad Cities and West Central Illinois chapter, where she is very involved in chapter activities and disaster responses.
“It’s my way of giving back to the Red Cross, because the training I got at that time was so valuable and it made life better for my father and myself, when he was living with us. So, that’s really my ‘why’ is to give back because I felt they gave so much to me,” said Lily.
Lily has deployed three times since joining the Red Cross as a volunteer in 2021. Most recently, the former resident of Florida returned to that state to help people affected by Hurricane Ian.
During her two-week deployment, Lily served as a supervisor for teams going door to door in Estero Beach, looking for people to offer assistance to, whose homes had been heavily damaged or destroyed.
“It’s like nothing really you’ve ever seen. You could smell the mold and mildew, as you came up to the houses,” she said. “You find people and they just want to tell you their stories, and we just heard some terrible stories.”
Lily recalls the story an 83-year-old man told her, of climbing into his attic with his two cats, to escape the rising water. “He rode that out for 20 hours, he watched his wife’s ashes float off. Just terrible stories – they just want to talk and they’re just glad to see somebody.”
Lily described her deployment following the tragic event that took place in Highland Park, IL this past summer as her most difficult one.
“To hear the people talk and you could feel the fear they were trying to relay; it’s just unimaginable, you can’t even wrap your head around it,” said Lily about her role as a caseworker, talking with those affected by the event.
“If I was in that situation, I would want someone there for me. That’s what I get back out of it. I just think, if that was me, I would want someone to be there to help me when I need help.” -Lily Leduc
While the experiences can be challenging, Lily enjoys volunteering for the Red Cross and enjoys meeting new people as part of the experience.
“I love new volunteers, and I just want to tell them, ‘Hey, there’s so much you can do.’ A lot of people don’t realize what the Red Cross does,” Lily said. “When we get a new volunteer, I’m like, ‘Look at all of these things you can do. There’s just so much you can do.'”
Thanks for all you do, Lily! Visit redcross.org/volunteer to join the team as a volunteer.
Written by Illinois Region Communications Manager Brian Williamsen
“I just wanted to make a difference in my community.”
This is what motivated Ramon ‘Jay’ Castro to become a volunteer with the Northwest Illinois chapter of the American Red Cross Illinois region.
Since becoming a Red Crosser 11 years ago, Jay, a U.S. Navy Veteran and retired art teacher, has deployed four times. His first deployment was to North Carolina after Hurricane Matthew, which coincidentally he told us is the name of one of his sons. Jay drove an emergency response vehicle from Chicago to North Carolina to provide much needed relief to those impacted.
He lives in Freeport, Illinois with his wife who also volunteered with the Red Cross for 12 years. Jay is an accomplished artist who created a seven-foot bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln (pictured here), which is located at Blackhawk Battlefield Park in Stephenson County, Illinois.
When asked why others should consider volunteering with the American Red Cross, he quickly replied, “because the Red Cross makes everything better.”
Thank you Jay for your service and for making a difference in the lives of those in need! Visit redcross.org/volunteer to sign up as a Red Cross volunteer.
“We have a shared humanity, and some other person in a desperate situation is going to need an anonymous blood donor to make it possible for them to regain their health. If it’s a very small thing you can do that can have an enormous effect on someone else’s life, it’s incumbent on you to do so.” -David Singer
March 2019 was first time David Singer gave blood. It was not his last.
Since then, David has donated more than two gallons of blood, and is now a Power Red donor.
“I was shocked at how non-invasive and quick it was,” said David. “I realized if that’s all it is, and if this is a thing people really need, then why don’t I do it as much as is reasonably possible for me to do it? I found it to be a very minor inconvenience, for me to go spend a small amount of time doing something that can have such a big impact on someone else.”
David urges others to do the same, as there is a constant need for blood products – every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
“The need is there. Every one of us believes that should we end up in the hospital, there would be blood available for us if we need it. Those are not reserves we have a limitless supply of. We all need to pitch in and do this.”
As for the time it takes to give blood? David says he barely notices he is there, before his appointment is done and he is on his way.
“It isn’t painful, it doesn’t take a long time. You go in, you fill out a few forms, you lie down and are on your phone for a few minutes and it’s over,” David said. “Everybody should get in the habit of spending 20 minutes every six weeks doing something that takes less time than shopping for groceries, and that has a big result.”
You are needed. To join David as a blood donor, visit redcrossblood.org and set up an appointment at a location near you. Thank you to David and all blood donors!
Written by Illinois Region Communications Manager Brian Williamsen
“I just want to give back to the community, because the Red Cross was there for me, and if they hadn’t been, I would probably not be here.” -Tina Martin
Tina Martin is a Red Cross volunteer in the Central Illinois chapter of the Illinois region. She serves, because others chose to serve before her.
In 1973, Tina needed a blood transfusion. She says, donated blood helped save her life. From that point on, Tina has felt motivated to help others.
“That’s the reason why I got started in volunteering, was to give back to the community,” she says. “I just really appreciate how everything worked out.”
Tina has been serving as a volunteer in Florida this week, helping people affected by Hurricane Ian. She has helped with serving food and distribution of supplies, among other tasks.
Tina says, it has been a rewarding experience, being able to help others who need it. She is enjoying working as part of the disaster response team serving the community, there.
“People are very nice and friendly. Everyone is just working together to help out and doing their very best. I just enjoy being here an part of the team as a volunteer,” says Tina.
Thank you very much, Tina for volunteering your time and helping others.
American Red Cross of Illinois 