Jonah's Social Experience

 My experience volunteering with the                           American Red Cross.

My first experience with the American Red Cross was in December 2014 when we lost everything in a house fire. As apart of my healing journey, I decided to give back and volunteer with the organization that had helped us so much. Little did I know it would be the most rewarding thing I've ever done (so far). 

I've helped hundreds of people, I have attended numerous house fires and I've even been on deployment both local and virtual through hurricanes and tornados. I volunteered from 2015 to 2020. One of the most memorable deployments I had was when the tornados touched down in eastern Greensboro in 2018. I drove back and forth for well over a month working in disaster relief with people directly affected by the tornados that had hit eastern Greensboro. I promise you, nothing will give you perspective like volunteering with those less fortunate  than you are will. Everyday I met so many people who lived in poverty, barely making ends meet then losing everything they owned. If they didnt totally lose their home, they had damage severe that they couldnt recover. I worked casework and heard the cries of so many people not knowing what they would do with their life now this has happened, they felt like they had nothing left. I also worked the shelter in Greensboro, passing out food, helping give toiletries and clothhing and just having conversations with people trying to offer encouragement and smiles along the way. 

How I relate this to our classwork this year is the fact that this was the poorest part of Greensboro, in an area that was almost all people who were either Black or Hispanic. These people also relied on other programs such as medicaid/medicare and food stamps, etc. to get by. The people affected almost always had no renters or home owners insurance. I vividly remember an elderly couple who had severe damage to their home where it wasnt liveable, had their home paid for but had no insurance. It broke my heart to hear how upset they were over the home they paid for over half their life but now because of being unable to work and no means to fix their home having to find elseware to live with no money. I wasnt apart of the team that went out on the ground and surveyed the properties but I heard from a lot of those who did that most of these homes in this area wasnt in the best condition to start so little damage still means a lot to the homeowners because some were near condemable to start with. For some people we saw, this was no big deal if they had insurance or stable jobs, for most though it was devistating and totally life changing. Some of the ways we would help them is by giving them a place to stay (shelter) and with that as long as it remained open we could house them, give them personal care items, let them shower,  get clothing and food. When the shelter closed we had opened up another area where I was a caseworker and we help with resources in the community for housing, food and supplies. We also gave clients money based on situation and how many people lived in the home at the time. It basically is enough for a few days worth of hotel stay and some extras (not enough but it's a start).  

A lot of days it broke my heart and had a lot of tears not only myself but other volunteers. That said, it was so very rewarding. I met some amazing people over those years and helped a lot of those get back on their feet after the disaster, it really makes you feel good to give back to your community. If you have never volunteered with anything like this, please do if only for a short time. It really puts life in perspective. It makes you so grateful for the things you have and the people you have around you. I honestly wish I could just volunteer for a living, I loved it that much. 

I can't post photos with other people from that time but I did take a selfie in front of the sheltered I worked at, I thought I would include that here.