Vicky Johns wears many volunteer hats for Red Cross. “It keeps me busy and out of trouble," she says.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Idaho Red Cross volunteer Vicky Johns. Over Labor Day weekend, Vicky, who lives in Meridian, had just finished donating blood and was at the store picking up a few things when she got a call from Regional Disaster Officer Scott O’Connell.
An overnight fire at a Ketchum condominium building had destroyed 26 homes, and Scott was looking for someone who could jump in the vehicle with him and meet with the families who had lost everything. So just two hours after she had finished up in the donor’s chair, Vicky pivoted into her disaster responder role and was in the passenger’s seat for the 150-mile trek to Ketchum alongside Scott and volunteer Jack Smith.
The team talked with families, began casework, handed out comfort kits and checked in with community partners before rolling back into Boise at midnight.
“The city up there was wonderful,” Vicky said. “Even today when I follow up with the clients, they’re getting a lot of community support. They really took care of them.”
A few days later Vicky shifted gears again, beginning a virtual two-week disaster deployment with the Northern California wildfires, assisting in staff services. In this role, she checks in volunteers as they arrive on the scene and makes sure they have a place to sleep, connects them with a supervisor and then helps out-process them as they leave their assignment.
“It’s just making sure they’re actively engaged and not forgotten somewhere,” she said.
She’s also simultaneously helping those closer to home who have been impacted by disaster.
Vicky is overseeing a three-person team in Montana working to help families whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged during June’s historic flooding apply for additional financial assistance beyond what they received earlier this summer.
Donating blood, meeting with families after the Ketchum condo fire, deploying virtually to assist with the California wildfires and leading recovery work in Montana -- Vicky has worn countless Red Cross hats in September and touched many lives.
“I love it,” she said. “It keeps me busy and out of trouble.”
In December, Vicky will celebrate her 10th anniversary with Red Cross – an organization she connected with through happenstance while living in California. Retired from her career with the Air National Guard, Vicky was volunteering with a youth program and attending a service fair in San Luis Obispo when she noticed the booth directly across from theirs. It was the Red Cross.
“I was talking to them about what they do, and I was like ‘Hey, I would love to do that,’” she said. “I signed up that night.”
Almost a decade and countless contributions later, she’s glad she did.
“Time is just something I have that people need, and I want to give it, just like blood,” she said.
“Every day you kind of feel good at night when you go to bed that you can say you made someone’s life a little bit better.”
BECOME A RED CROSS VOLUNTEER
The American Red Cross offers volunteer opportunities for almost any interest and skillset. Training is provided and the payoff is priceless. Learn more by emailing IDMT.Recruiting@redcross.org or visiting redcross.org/volunteer.
