Category Archives: Homepage posts — Featured

Laura’s Lesson from Alaska: Appreciating the Communities We Serve

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Laura (in purple) with other Red Cross volunteers who deployed to the same shelter in Anchorage. 

Being called to assist those whose lives have been upended by a natural disaster is not only an opportunity to provide aid and service. A deployment is also a unique opportunity for cultural exchange, and Laura Hovden’s deployment to Alaska in the wake of Typhoon Halong in October 2025 was a testament to that.  

Laura first got involved in local disaster management volunteer opportunities with the American Red Cross in 2014. Once her children left home for college, she left her own backyard to deploy to natural disasters across the country. She focused on organizing shelters during her initial deployments, but she soon secured more responsibilities as part of the Mass Care team that manages relief operations for larger natural disasters.

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Making Life on the Water Safer

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Red Cross Volunteers bring home fire safety to the floating homes of Sausalito

Catherine Lee, Ron Lau, Vincent Valenzuela, Lesley Carmichael and Claire Cannariato (L to R) prepare to install smoke alarms in floating homes

“You’re on the water.  You’ve got wildlife out your window.  You’ve got the sun playing off the water.”

That’s how Flo Hoylman describes living aboard a houseboat in Sausalito, Calif., just north of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. But Flo, who serves on the board of the Sausalito Floating Homes Association, knows she and her neighbors on the water are just as susceptible to fires as any other Californians. 

“We still burn. And if there was a fire, like there was in Santa Rosa, the embers would come down on us, too.”

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No Power, No Problem: Stranded in San Francisco

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Businesses in downtown San Francisco were closed due to the power outage

By Veronica Oberholzer

I love the Christmas season and am always looking for new holiday activities. On Saturday, December 20, I took BART from my home in Oakland to the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco to see a 2 p.m. Christmas Ballet.

The theater was a dark cocoon from the outside world during the beautiful performance. In a funny piece of foreshadowing, I thought that anything could be happening in the world outside, and we wouldn’t know about it until the show was over.

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‘I’m Halfway There!’ A Red Cross Volunteer’s Journey to Safeguard 100 Homes and Empower Communities Through Fire Safety

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Hans Cardenas (right) and Hanna Malak -Regional CEO- at a Sound the Alarm Event

Hans Cardenas is a man on a mission: he aims to make 100 homes safer by installing free smoke alarms with the American Red Cross Sound the Alarm program. And he is more than halfway there already!

Sound the Alarm is part of the national Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, which aims to reduce the number of deaths from home fires. This campaign has helped save 2,063 lives since its launch in October 2014. Here in the Northern California Coastal Region, volunteers and partners have installed more than 48,500 free smoke alarms and made more than 18,000 households safer since 2014.

“I’ve made 57 homes safer since I started on May 14, 2020. Working with different teams, we installed 171 alarms,” he detailed.

Hans’ journey with the Red Cross started in 2020 as a Senior Philanthropy Officer with the Regional Fund Development Team. He spent two years facilitating financial donations from individuals across the Northern California Coastal Region. Through his role, he forged connections with donors, aligning their priorities with the Red Cross mission, which includes disaster relief, blood donation and community support. As of December 2023, he transitioned to a similar position with the San Francisco Opera. Despite his busy schedule, he still finds time to install free smoke alarms with his fellow Red Crossers, visiting communities at risk for home fires across the region. “We, the fundraisers, are very goal oriented. I was just being audacious by choosing such (a) number, but also trying to stay engaged with something I really enjoy doing,” he explained.

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Spotlight on the North Bay and Heart of the Valley Youth Executive Board Members 

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by Quinn Aftab 

Photo Courtesy of Connor Siu, Yesha Sacatani, and Monisha Raju

Every individual grows up in a different community–the Red Cross, as a global organization, encompasses so many stories from these divergent backgrounds. Being able to give back to their communities and make an impact is a great gift for volunteers. That’s why so many youth have resonated with the American Red Cross to serve as members of the Youth Executive Board (YEB), like Connor Siu, Yesha Sacatani, and Monisha Raju from North Bay and Heart of the Valley Chapters (NBC/HOV).  The variety of ways in which these youth volunteers have been influenced by their communities is what inspires their distinctive journey: 

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A Heartfelt Farewell: Nancy Reeves Retires from the Red Cross After 17 Years

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Our Disaster Cycle Services Team and the and Heart of the Valley Chapter Leadership celebrating Nancy and her dedication to the Red Cross Mission.

Nancy Reeves is retiring as a Red Cross volunteer after 17 years, and everyone in the Heart of the Valley Chapter and Northern California Coastal region will deeply miss her.

Her journey with the Red Cross started in 2007 when she joined the Disaster Action Team in Stanislaus County. She was a dedicated volunteer. Her colleagues often say that Nancy is “always there when the Red Cross calls.”

She fulfilled several roles over the years, displaying solid professionalism in each opportunity. She was a Disaster Action Team (DAT) Supervisor, Duty Officer, Disaster Responder, and Disaster Services Chair. She was also a remarkable trainer and mentor for new DAT volunteers, always happy to share her extensive knowledge and experience with them.

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