Author Archives: redcrossnorcalstaff

A Twice In A Lifetime Experience: Reflections On Briana’s Most Unique Deployment

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By Julia Maniccia

Photos courtesy of Briana Taylor

“We are so focused on responding and getting a job done, but that isn’t how you touch peoples’ lives. You do that by listening to them, talking to them, letting them tell their story and finding out what they need. Then you help them,” is a sentiment that has guided Briana Taylor, first by a career in psychology, and later by two decades of service with the American Red Cross.

Briana’s introduction to disaster response was happenstance. In her professional role in mental health, Briana had spent many years working to alleviate human suffering on an individual level, tending to the needs of her patients in their darkest hour. In 2004, Briana was vacationing in Phuket, Thailand with her family, briefly taking off her psychologist hat, when a tsunami took to the island’s shores. Six weeks later, her drive to alleviate suffering took flight on the community-level, as she returned to Thailand to support islanders in their recovery.

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“Two-For-One Special” 

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Recognizing Susan Winters, Heart of the Valley Chapter’s Clara Barton Award Winner 

By Selena Nisha

Photo courtesy of Susan Winters

After retiring from a career as a speech therapist and school secretary, Susan Winters from Modesto, California found herself searching for new ways to stay engaged in her community. Susan has always believed in the importance of giving back. Her parents were active in community service and instilled in her the values of volunteerism and compassion towards others. This passion for service led her to the American Red Cross in 2010, and her contribution to the organization was recently recognized with the Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Leadership. Named after the founder of the Red Cross, the award recognizes a volunteer for their years of service in various leadership positions.  

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This One Felt Different

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A Red Cross volunteer shares what the Loma Prieta earthquake – and the hours that followed – were like from the Red Cross office in San Jose.
A Red Cross worker surveys the damage caused by the Lomo Prieta earthquake in the Santa Cruz area.

By Franci Collins, Red Cross Volunteer

I will always remember where I was at 5:04 p.m. on October 17, 1989. I had just walked into the San Jose Chapter of the Red Cross. Coincidentally, I was scheduled to teach an earthquake preparedness class that night, the first in several months as classes were often cancelled due to lack of enrollment. I wanted to get there before 5 p.m. to make sure all the equipment was available and working.

The slide projector was on a table right inside the classroom door and I had just turned it on and off when the ground started shaking. I am happy to say that my six years of training paid off, as I immediately ducked under the table and held on. The shaking seemed to go on for an extremely long time and I spent most of it imagining the slide projector being progressively shaken towards the edge of the table. I had time to decide that if it fell off, I would stay where I was and not try to save it.

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Mother/daughter duo is Red Cross ready for any disaster: Volunteers team up for Fleet Week

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Red Crossers Sophie Rebecca (left) and Eleanor Najjar greet Fleet Week visitors. Photo by Alex Keilty – American Red Cross

By Alex Keilty

She was sprawled on the ground with her arms and face covered in bruises. “I remember the firefighter scooping me up,” says Sophie Rebecca Najjar. She was just 6 years old and it was her introduction to the American Red Cross. Lucky for Sophie, the firefighter was real, but the bruises were not. She had been painted with makeup to look like a victim for a disaster practice exercise she attended with her mom. She had a great time that day!

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The Powerful Impact of Disaster Preparedness in Local Communities

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by Selena Nisha

Photo courtesy of John Earthy
American Red Cross

Prior to becoming a longtime community preparedness volunteer with the American Red Cross, John Earthy reminisces about his time traveling across Southeast Asia stating, “It was my passion helping individuals, teams and organizations achieve their aspirations and missions. I took myself trekking alone for several years across Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, mostly out in remote villages. In time I found myself absorbed in the day to day lives of villagers, survival and the simpler things in life that brought safety, comfort and happiness.”

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The Fabric of Humanity’s Quilt

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By Quinn Aftab

Photo courtesy of Jill Hofmann

In the floods of 1981-82, the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were surrounded by 25-inch rainfalls that hit the mountains ruthlessly, causing 33 deaths and damaging over 7,800 homes and businesses. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the heavy rains triggered mudslides that blocked road access to the upper regions, burying buildings and trapping people.

Jill Hofmann, a licensed marriage, family and child therapist, was one of the residents of Santa Cruz County who was recruited to be part of the County Mental Health Team in 1981, quickly arose to support impacted residents, providing grief counseling and helping them cope.

However, the physical and mental efforts she remembered enduring, such as visiting community shelters or climbing over tree trunks to deliver packaged food, were just the beginning of her story as a Red Crosser. In fact, during the floods, Jill truly saw the lasting kindness and compassion of her fellow volunteers, after which she began her own journey of 43 years as a Red Cross volunteer.

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