"These translators are giving elements of their history, heritage, family, intellect, and wisdom.”

Robert Kennedy famously said, “Some men look at things the way they are and ask, “Why?” I dream of things that are not and ask, “Why not?” The thirteen volunteers of the American Red Cross in Greater New York’s Health & Safety Services Translation Team being honored with the 2010 Innovation Award looked at “things that are not,” asked, “Why not?” then made things happen—things that have had both a local and a global impact.

The team came into being in 2008, when Tiffany & Co., the New York jewelry firm, decided to implement the NY Red Cross’s Pandemic Preparedness program at all of its overseas facilities. Team members Jenny Chun, Clarissa Espinosa, Mario Fontenla, Shuhung Hong, Marsa Kindl-Omuse, Monica Mei, Elizabeth Musso, Diep Ngyuen, Carlos Rodríguez, Nancy Soto, Corina Stonebanks, Norika Takatsuka and Lily Too immediately set about translating the NY Chapter’s pandemic preparedness Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint slide presentation into nine languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese. At about 100 pages for each course, that added up to many hours of work, which was completed in 2009.

After the translated materials arrived in the different countries, Web X conference courses for instructors using the translated manuals were held from the Chapter’s headquarters in Manhattan. Members of the translation team sat in to help out with any language problems, often doing so at night to account for time differences. These New York Red Cross classes have now been taught in China, Central and South America, Europe, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. And the team continues to translate material. Most recently, the “Be Red Cross Ready” preparedness program has been translated into Japanese.

The translation was an “extracurricular Red Cross activity,” said Health & Human Safety Account Executive Matt Conley, who oversaw the project. “Some of the volunteers did the work at home and had other family members vet it.

“These translators are giving elements of their history, heritage, family, intellect, and wisdom,” he continued. “They are creating something that will aid people in their homeland or the land of their ancestors.”

By greatly increasing the number of people who are touched by the Red Cross because they can teach and learn in their own language, the translation team truly has not only made the Greater New York Chapter more relevant to the community that we serve, it has spread the word about the importance of preparedness around the country—and the globe.

Recipients of the Innovation Award

Shuhung Hong from Queens, NY

Lily Too from Queens, NY
Corina Stonebanks from Manhattan, NY
Marsa Kindl-Omuse from Brooklyn, NY
Monica Mei from Bronx, NY
Noriko Takatsuka from Woodside, NY
Jenny Chun from Manhattan, NY
Diep Nguyen from Brooklyn, NY
Mario Fontenla from Flushing, NY
Carlos Rodriguez from Fairfield County, CT
Clarissa Espinosa from Flushing, NY
Nancy Soto from Brooklyn, NY
Elizabeth Musso from Paramus, NJ

“Bob almost single-handedly coordinates the New York National Disaster Call Center.”

Red Cross volunteer Robert Lirtzman is the 2010 recipient of the Community Services Award which recognizes an exceptional volunteer or team of volunteers who have served for at least one year within areas such as community outreach, the emergency communications center and international training services. “Bob almost single-handedly coordinates the New York National Disaster Call Center,” said Chief Response Officer Bob Imbornoni.

This center is activated after large-scale national disasters as part of the national hotline of the American Red Cross to provide information and assistance to people who call 866-GET-INFO, the American Red Cross 24/7 information number. It ensures that individuals in need will always be able to hear a compassionate voice when they call the Red Cross looking for help. While running the Call Center is a job that is not particularly visible, “things can get very busy and sometimes pretty frantic,” said Disaster Mental Health volunteer Diana Brown.

A native New Yorker and retired high school science teacher, Bob began volunteering at the NY Red Cross in 1977 as a CPR instructor. He started working in the Call Center (aka the Response Center Network) when it was first set up at the Chapter in 2005. For Bob it was definitely a baptism by wind and water. The hurricane season in the Atlantic that year was the most active in recorded history with three major hurricanes—Katrina, Rita and Wilma—affecting some 1.2 million families on the US mainland in a period of two months. The newly inaugurated Call Center handled approximately 19,000 calls in 9 weeks; it was open 7 days a week, approximately 16 hours a day. Bob attributes the success of the Call Center to “the dedication, professionalism and hard work of the volunteers and employees who serve as call agents or provide on-site mental health support.”

Red Cross people with whom he works cited Bob for his almost-constant presence, his patience and his sensitivity to a caller’s need to speak with a mental-health counselor: “Bob encourages us to keep talking to these faceless clients who may be hundreds or thousands of miles away and who may be upset, angry, crying—it doesn’t matter—we keep talking to them until we calm them down and until they know they’ve been helped,” said Diana.

“He makes clear that we are to be caring and patient no matter how upset the caller is,” she continued, “nonjudgmental about their level of upset, and ready to get them needed services. He recognizes our role as representing the larger Red Cross in this country and in the world.”

Bob also trains CPR and first aid instructors, and teaches CPR and first aid classes and basic disaster services. He supports Disaster Training, works with the Chapter’s amateur radio group, and coordinates with National headquarters to organize the Welfare Information activities so important for initiating contacts between family members and loved ones in disaster-affected areas. He is truly deserving of the Community Services Award.

Robert Lirtzman from Bronx, NY is the recipient of the Community Services Award

“We are blessed to have a volunteer with Hun-Jue’s compassion, flexibility and mission to serve.”

The recipient of the 2010 First Year Award is Hun-Jue Luu, honored as an exceptional volunteer who has served for less than one year. A practicing psychologist who wrote his dissertation on trauma caused by airplane crashes, Hun-Ju has made an outstanding contribution as a disaster mental-health volunteer.

He is also a translator and mediator. Hun-Ju completed the NY Red Cross’s newly offered one-day Disaster Mental Health Institute training in February 2009. Not long after, he was tapped by NY Red Cross Director of Mental Health & Service Programs Diane Ryan to go to JFK airport with a small team of Red Cross volunteers to meet Mandarin-speaking families arriving from China. The families flew to the US to identify loved ones who had been killed when a gunman opened fire at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York in April 2009.

The arriving families were exhausted, stunned and grieving. Hun-Jue greeted them in Mandarin, offered condolences from the Red Cross and provided support and crisis intervention. He explained how they were to be taken to Binghamton and prepared them for what to expect upon arrival there. He took special charge of the brother of a woman who had been killed, comforting him, shielding him from the media and getting him safely on the way to Binghamton together with relatives from Long Island. “Building trust is the first giant step in establishing a relationship with clients, and understanding both the culture and the language is essential to making this happen,” said Hun-Jue. “Grieving families, especially Chinese ones, don’t want to talk to strangers. But once they understand what the Red Cross is trying to do for them, they are very grateful.”

Just eight weeks later, at the beginning of June, Air France Flight 447 crashed off the coast of Brazil en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The airline called the Red Cross to ask for assistance in notifying a Mandarin-speaking family whose only son had been on the flight. The victim’s parents had lived in New York City for 18 years and were getting ready to move permanently to Brazil to join their son, who had opened a business there. Hun-Jue provided essential translation services for the Air France personnel and offered culturally sensitive guidance and support to the family as they dealt with Air France liaisons and the Office of the Medical Examiner. For many months he remained available to the family, who came to trust him and did not wish a referral for ongoing counseling. Hun-Jue was able, over time, to help this family accept the fact of their loss and begin to make decisions about their future.

“Throughout all of this, Hun-Jue demonstrated an amazing ability to meet the clinical needs of this distraught family, the needs of the staff of Air France, and to work within the parameters of the mission of the American Red Cross—this after knowing us for just a few months,” said Diane Ryan. “It was an honor to work with Hun-Jue on the Binghamton disaster and the Air France aviation incident. The NY Red Cross is blessed to have a volunteer with his compassion, flexibility and mission to serve.”

While Hun-Jue recognizes that he possesses a particular set of skills he can call on when the trauma of a disaster is compounded by an inability to communicate in English, he says, “Mental-health skills are not always the most important thing. No matter who you are, if your heart is in the right place, people will appreciate what you’re doing.”

Hun-Jue Luu from Kew Gardens is the recipient of the 2010 First Year Award

“I would be lost without her.”

One and one don’t always equal two. When a volunteer acts as a “partner” with a NY Red Cross employee, the degree of symbiosis can sometimes be extraordinary. Zofia Bolewicz, the 2010 recipient of the Partnership Award, has acted as a volunteer partner for Cheskeca Miller, Assistant Director, Staff Relations, since Zofia joined the New York Red Cross last September.

“I would be lost without her,” says Cheskeca. “In the spirit of learning Zofia raises her hand for tasks outside of Staff Relations to broaden her own HR experience.” According to Cheskeca, not only does Zofia work hard at whatever she is assigned, she makes herself available during weekend events and works on projects from home.

Zofia hails from Brooklyn, where she settled after arriving in the US from Poland five years ago. She says that working at the Chapter is a perfect fit for her. She was looking for a volunteer opportunity to do human-resources work, and decided on the Red Cross “because of its mission and because it is a very respected organization in Poland.” Zofia arrived from Poland with several years of HR experience and has continued to take advanced management courses at NYU.

Cheskeca says that Zofia’s interest in the field of human resources “keeps me on my toes.” Zofia has conducted research on HR legislation and current best practices employed at other organizations. Her findings have led to a re-examination of Chapter policies and resulted in recommendations that will be implemented at the NY Red Cross in the near future. For example, Zofia has worked with Cheskeca on a policy that will clarify the expectations of our NY Red Cross staff’s use of social networking sites.

Zofia also played a role in the Haiti relief effort. She screened potential Creole-speaking volunteers to send to Haiti as translators on the hospital ship the USNS Comfort, where many of the seriously injured were treated, and she followed up with the volunteers on their return to the States. She also helps with Reserve Institutes and volunteer recruitment.

“I am often amazed at Zofia's dedication and work ethic,” says Cheskeca. “She is a wonderful example of voluntary service.”

Zofia Bolewicz is the recipient of the 2010 Partnership Award

"Seeing the dedication of the volunteers who were willing to give so much of their time was an unforgettable experience,”

When Gael James’s husband, John, was sent to fight in Vietnam in 1969, Gael began looking for something worthwhile to occupy herself during John’s absence—and became a Red Cross volunteer. Her first Red Cross volunteer job was at the Charleston Naval Hospital, working in the OB-GYN clinics. She went on to volunteer for the Red Cross while stationed at military bases throughout the US and in Germany.

In 1973, Gael, John and their family moved to West Point, where Gael volunteered on the board that managed Red Cross volunteer opportunities. She also organized the biannual blood drives. The family soon moved again (and again), during which time Gael earned her bachelor’s degree at Old Dominion University in Virginia, and John received his PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The James family finally returned to West Point, where they have remained since 2000, with Gael again serving in various roles as a devoted Red Cross volunteer.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Red Cross issued a request for volunteers to train for disaster work. Gael took every class offered at the West Point Red Cross, which was then under the jurisdiction of the Dutchess County Red Cross Chapter. When West Point was absorbed by the Greater New York Chapter in July 2006, Gael became an active Greater New York disaster volunteer.

Gael has been deployed once nationally, to Louisiana after Hurricane Gustav, driving a Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle in Lafayette, LA. This deployment proved to be a life-altering experience. “Seeing the way that the disaster affected the people that could least afford the consequences, and seeing the dedication of the volunteers who were willing to give so much of their time was an unforgettable experience,” she said.

Gael has provided assistance at several local disasters. She takes as many disaster training courses as possible and is two classes away from completing the requirements to be promoted to a supervisory volunteer position. Gael enjoys volunteering for the Red Cross because she believes the organization’s work is vital to the safety and well-being of our communities and because she wants “to contribute in some way to lessen the suffering of others.”

Gael and John have been married for 43 years, having tied the knot at West Point the day after John’s graduation. They have moved 23 times in the past 42 years, and have two children and four grandchildren. Gail hopes to serve as a disaster services volunteer for many years to come.

Gael James from West Point, NY is the recipient of the 2010 American Red Cross West Point Award

“Red Cross staff and volunteers always shown great goodness in their daily lives.”

Military wives lead famously peripatetic lives—moving from base to base as their husbands’ assignments change. Joan Finnegan is a perfect example, having set up house in many places since she married her husband, Patrick. And it is the qualities for which she is being recognized—extraordinary kindness, optimism and cheerfulness—that surely moved with her from Massachusetts to Washington, Virginia (several times), Kentucky, North Carolina, Florida, Germany (twice) and then here to West Point. Joan is the recipient of the Harriet Demarest Congeniality Award which recognizes a Red Cross volunteer who has served the West Point community with exactly those sterling personality traits.

Joan, who hails from Long Island, has been volunteering with the Red Cross since her high school days when she worked as a candy striper at Nassau Hospital in Mineola. And while studying nursing in Syracuse she worked as a Red Cross blood-drive volunteer.

She married Patrick Finnegan upon his graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1971, and the couple moved to Massachusetts where Patrick attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Moves to bases in Washington State and Virginia followed. From an assignment in Warrenton, Virginia they traveled to Charlottesville where Patrick obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia. It was here that Joan reconnected with the Red Cross, developing and teaching childbirth classes at the UVA Hospital where she also worked as a part-time labor and delivery nurse.

Next it was off to Germany where Joan continued to teach childbirth classes as a Red Cross volunteer. Three years later the family was back in Charlottesville where Joan resumed teaching childbirth classes and worked full-time as a nurse. Then it was off to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and, after that, back to Germany where Joan worked as a quality-assurance volunteer in the US Army Health Clinic in Stuttgart under the auspices of the Red Cross. In 1998, upon Patrick’s appointment as head of the Academy’s Department of Law, the couple settled at West Point, where Joan has worked since her arrival as a Blood Drive volunteer, including six years as Blood Drive Captain. In 2004, she was awarded the NY Red Cross Jean MacArthur Volunteer of the Year Award.

Additionally, since her arrival at West Point, Joan has served as a Red Cross volunteer at the Keller Army Hospital’s front desk. Where better to put her famous congeniality on display?

"Whenever we moved as an Army family, after the boxes were unpacked and the children were in school, the first place I'd go was to the local Red Cross office,” said Joan. “That's because I discovered early on that the friendliest and nicest people in the neighborhood (or on post) were Red Cross volunteers. Over many years, Red Cross staff and volunteers always shown great goodness in their daily lives, challenging me to be a better person."

Joan C. Finnegan from West Point, NY is the recipient of the 2010 Harriet Demarest Congeniality Award

"I believe in the Red Cross; everything we do is driven by the heart.”

Joyce Morse began her Red Cross volunteer career in 1996 when she and her husband, Matt, Chief Warrant Officer W04, and Associate USMA Band Master, were stationed at Camp Zama in Japan. Starting as a General Support volunteer, Joyce became involved in emergency communications, then trained to become a CPR, First Aid, and Babysitter’s Training Instructor. Ultimately she served as the Red Cross Station Chairperson, overseeing all the other volunteer positions.



She continued her Red Cross service while Matt was stationed at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia; Fort Stewart, GA; Wiesbaden, Germany; and Fort Jackson, NC, volunteering at all these locations as Blood Services Chairperson; teaching CPR and First Aid; and/or working in Red Cross Emergency Communications. Additionally, she participated in a study for the reorganization of the Emergency Communications Center at the Central South Carolina–Columbia Chapter of the American Red Cross.

In recognition of her service Joyce received the Red Cross Exceptional Volunteer Award while stationed in both Japan and Germany, and the Clara Barton Meritorious Leadership Award from the Central South Carolina–Columbia Chapter of the American Red Cross.

In 2007, Joyce and her family, which now included children, Anthony and Jessica, moved to West Point. There she serves as a member of the NY Red Cross West Point Leadership committee; helps to coordinate volunteer staffing at all the West Point blood drives, at which she also works and oversees volunteers; teaches Red Cross Volunteer Orientation and Health and Safety Classes; and provides general administrative support.

A Johnsonburg, PA, native, Joyce received a BS Degree in medical technology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her non-Red Cross volunteer service includes serving as Family Support Group Leader for her husband’s units while stationed in Virginia, Georgia, Germany and South Carolina.

At West Point, Joyce gives her time to her children’s schools, volunteering in the classroom and the school nurse’s office, and helping to run book fairs. She also volunteers at the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, where she is a Eucharistic Minister; helps with the Little Flowers Girls Club and with the altar servers; and helps with her son’s baseball team.

Joyce says, “Volunteering for past 14 years has been a wonderful experience. I’ve worked all over the world, and the people are great. That’s one reason I’ve stayed as long as I have. I believe in the Red Cross; everything we do is driven by the heart.”

Joyce Morse from West Point, NY is the recipient of the 2010 Jean MacArthur Volunteer of the Year Award