Tag Archives: Partnership

The Heart of a Shelter: Jodi Wallace’s Strategic Lead in the Alaska Typhoon Recovery 

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Jodi Wallace in Alaska after Typhoon Halong

For American Red Cross volunteer Jodi Wallace, the call to deploy to natural disasters is a lifelong mission. Most recently, she was one of the many volunteers that deployed to Alaska to aid the thousands of survivors affected by the destruction of Typhoon Halong last October.  

Referring to herself as a “Katrina baby,” Jodi has been deploying to natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina. When she first heard the call for Red Cross volunteers on the television and radio, she signed up and began her journey assisting in the shelters.  

“I realized that sheltering was really something near and dear to my heart, so I stayed with it. For at least the first 16 years, I predominantly ran shelters as a shelter manager because that is really what I loved and was passionate about,” she said. “For the last four years, I started doing other things, but my favorite is being Mass Care Chief because it keeps me close to sheltering.” 

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One Trauma, Several Big Hearts, and an Unforgettable Outcome

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Midday Sunday, on Presidents’ Day weekend, 2025, anyone driving along I-880 near Oakland, Calif.’s Laney College would have seen a large black plume of smoke dangerously close to the freeway, billowing towards Lake Merritt. An RV fire had erupted on that dry but overcast day, its flames marking the beginning of an unusual reunification story involving at least two organizations, some very dedicated people, and a cat.

Marsha sleeping soundly under the care of her “good samaritan”

Found After Flames

A day or two after the smoke cleared, “a good samaritan,” as Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region volunteer Jessica Shobar recently said, “found a lost kitty in San Leandro…hiding under a car, badly burned, and covered in soot.” Though the kitty’s wounds were substantial—with blackened and singed paws, face, and body—she was alive. And though the distance from the fire was exceptional and the kitty didn’t have a microchip, her luck would later be viewed as extraordinary because the good samaritan and San Leandro’s Animal Control coaxed her into a carrier and took her to a local clinic. This was especially fortunate because if she’d been found in Oakland, she might have been sent to a shelter and never would have landed where the key ingredients for reunification were available.

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Rebuilding Pajaro: A Partnership in Action with Hope Crisis Response Network

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Written By: Jillian Robertson

Volunteers with Hope Crisis Response Network help clean up the muck in resident’s homes.

“Pajaro was a really good project,” said Kevin Cox, CEO of Hope Crisis Response Network (HCRN).

In the city of Pajaro, California, HCRN managed the cleanup after the floods, deploying teams from United Methodists, Team Rubicon and others. Compared to other agencies they’ve partnered with in the past where “we were just a conduit,” the American Red Cross relationship was a true partnership characterized by mutual trust.

First, they formed Hope City Resource Village, a place to collaborate with partners and register families for cleanup.

Then the real work began.

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