Why I Run for the Red Cross

Photo by Syncere Zakee

Chris Busbee, unofficial coach of Team Red Cross, talks about his ING NYC Marathon experience this past November.

How many marathons have you participated in?
Thirty-seven; this was my 14th NYC Marathon.

Why do you run marathons?
Marathons are one of the few things that you get more out of it then you put in. They are the ultimate test of courage, character, dedication, perseverance, willpower. A marathon truly tells you “who you are.” My life has changed for the better because of the people that I’ve met by running for others and for charities. Running marathons makes you feel young. I’m running towards something and contributing to something at the same time.

Why run with Team Red Cross?
The Red Cross mission and brand is so unique. Red Cross is like a great work of art; we don’t notice it’s there are all the time, but we would notice if it were absent. What’s more, how can you not want to provide basic services to those who need it most? The organization’s mission represents a kindness and service to your fellow man that truly encapsulates the meaning in life. I’m proud to tell people to donate to the Red Cross.

What is your relationship with Patrick Durkin, a NY Red Cross Board member, and with Clay Sell, who came from Texas, as you did, to run in this race?
These are my friends who I am drawn to. I get so much out of my relationship with Durkin. We have a great bond. We met in Paris on a ridiculous biking tour of the Alps. I work with Clay and love challenging him, so I twisted his arm into coming to NYC and running this marathon with me.

Describe your experience crossing the finish line.
It was a weird mix of pleasure, joy and relief. I tell everyone that the last two miles of the marathon are the best two miles I run all year. It’s hard to sift through all of the pain and everything that’s going through your body, but it’s really joy and relief. It was emotional when I crossed with Shay Grinfield because it was his first marathon.

What was it like being a leader for Team Red Cross?
I felt like I was truly helping people by sharing my personal experience. I read this great quote that I’d like to share with you:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle—when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

I like this quote because it reminds me that it doesn’t matter if I’m in first place or in last place—all that matters is that I run. We’re running for the people of New York—the people whose lives have been altered because of a disaster. We run because when we do the American Red Cross is able to give them food and blankets, and provide a safe, temporary place for them to sleep free of charge. It’s not just the Red Cross’ one hundred year-old mission, it’s our team’s as well.

What advice do you have for first time marathon runners?
Running the NYC Marathon will change your life, and not in a small way. It’s impossible to describe what strengths and confidence you will get from successfully running this. It’s unfathomable for a first-time marathon runner to understand until they are in it. It’s a privilege to be surrounded by so many passionate people on that starting line—to know that there is more to life than the normal routine.

Chris Busbee, Boerne, Texas

“I never expected so much help in so little time.”

Walter and Diane Gomez and daughter Laura

As they were preparing for bed one Sunday night, Walter Gomez and his wife Diana smelled something burning. Ducking onto the balcony of their second floor Queens apartment, Walter was chilled to see smoke pouring from the apartment above. He quickly called 911, and told Diana to grab their daughter Laura and get out of the apartment. As his family raced downstairs to safety, Walter raced upstairs to the top floor apartment, which was enveloped in thick smoke. There he was met by another neighbor carrying a fire extinguisher who began to try to damp down the flames. (The people who lived in the fire apartment had already fled the building.)

Soon, Walter and his neighbor heard sirens and knew that firefighters would arrive shortly. Before they ran outside, they made one final check to make sure everyone had made it out of the building okay. Walter, a veteran of the first Gulf War who works in Operations at JPMorgan Chase, credits his attempts to save the third floor apartment to his U.S. Army service. “Instead of running out, we did what came naturally to us,” he said of himself and his neighbor, whom he called “a very proactive individual.”

Once the fire was extinguished, Red Cross responders at the scene started the Gomez family back on the road to recovery. “They went into the building with us and assessed the damage,” said Walter. “They explained what services they offered and provided us with food and financial assistance on the spot.”

At New York Red Cross headquarters in Manhattan a few days later, Walter and his family received further emergency services, including referrals to other agencies and arrangements for counseling. “You know that the Red Cross is there,” he said, “but you don’t know how much of a difference they make until you really need them. I’m surprised and overwhelmed. I never expected so much help in so little time.”

Walter, Diane and Laura Gomez, Glendale, NY

"The Red Cross is literally a lifesaving organization."

On Thanksgiving Day, Deborah Stevens of Manhattan was visiting her older daughter in Ohio. She had come down with an upper respiratory infection and was asleep when she heard phones begin to ring. Her younger daughter, who was also out of town, in Atlanta, and her neighbors in Manhattan were calling to tell her that her apartment was on fire. “My apartment?” she said to her friends. “But nobody’s there!”

Sadly, Deborah’s apartment, where she had lived since 1982, did indeed suffer what the Fire Department told her was probably an electrical fire, and the damage was too extensive for Deborah to return home. Her neighbors, who had gone up to her apartment to make sure she was alright, saw the contact card left by the NY Red Cross and gave her the number to call.

The next week, as soon as Deborah returned to New York, she met with a client caseworker. “What I appreciated most,” said Deborah, who is staying with her sister-in-law, “was the way my caseworker made me feel—safe, and a little bit more relaxed. The uncertainty and nervousness I felt was alleviated.” The NY Red Cross also provided Deborah with a stipend for food, a MetroCard, and information about other agencies that could help her with housing and other services.

“The Red Cross is literally a lifesaving organization,” said Deborah. “It collects all these broken lives and it gives back a sense of confidence, security, hope and normalcy. It’s wonderful to know that everything is going to be all right."

Deborah Stevens, Manhattan

You help people right away—no “ifs,” no “buts,” no “tomorrow”

Denise Wilson (left), Sarah Greenidge (middle) & Mark Greenidge (right)

Denise Wilson lit the stove as she was preparing dinner for her family in their West Harlem apartment, and “it just blew,” setting fire to her hair. After patting out the flames burning her hair, she grabbed her grandson and 9-year-old daughter and ran out. She called the fire department, ran back in and banged on her neighbors’ doors to warn them.

The blaze destroyed her top-floor apartment. “There was no more kitchen,” says Denise. “They broke all the windows and made holes in the roof—we could see airplanes flying across.” She reports that Red Cross relief workers came to the building right away, while she was at the hospital being checked for smoke inhalation. By the time she was released the Red Cross had made arrangements for emergency housing for her entire family of ten, as well as assistance for food and clothing.

Denise and her husband, Mark Greenidge, like almost all victims of fires to which the Red Cross responds, knew only that when a flood, earthquake or other big disaster happens, the Red Cross is always there. When she and her family came to NY Red Cross Chapter headquarters the day after the fire, they were amazed by the amount of help and caring offered by the organization. “They gave us food and they looked out for the kids,” said Denise. “I hadn’t eaten, I was really upset, and the Red Cross caseworker talked to me about how important it was to care of myself. She went and got me something to eat. I was grateful for that.”

What impressed Mark was that the Red Cross had no hesitation about helping. “You come and help people right away—no “ifs,” no “buts,” no “tomorrow,” no “next week”—right away,” he said. Denise added, “You guys helped immediately and didn’t look at us like we just wanted handouts. I am very grateful for that as well.”

Denise Wilson and Mark Greenidge from New York, NY

American Red Cross CEO & President Gail McGovern on CNBC

American Red Cross CEO & President Gail McGovern discusses how new technologies are changing not only how but who is making charitable contributions around the world. See below for the full version of the program "Executive Vision: Leadership in Action."

"I didn't know the Red Cross did so much."

Anita Cruz and her son Adrian

Anita Cruz and her 22-year-old son, Adrian, were about to sit down to dinner in their Bronx apartment when some of the lights went out. Then, they noticed a strange smell. After checking the electrical outlets and finding nothing, they saw smoke above a skylight in the hallway, alerted the neighbors and called 911.

Firefighters soon arrived, but also had difficulty finding the source of the smoke. To do so, they used chainsaws to break open the roof and ceiling of the apartment’s rooms (Anita and Adrian lived on the top floor). They finally discovered that the smoke had come from faulty electrical fixture in the kitchen ceiling. “In the end,” Anita said, “everything was destroyed,” making the apartment where she had lived for 27 years “unlivable.”

The Red Cross arrived at the scene to help, offering to arrange temporary housing for Anita, who decided to stay with her brother. But they referred Anita to different agencies and gave her valuable information about her legal rights as a tenant. She was grateful for all the “little details” she hadn’t know about, which helped to ease her difficult situation. The Red Cross also gave Anita and Adrian emergency financial assistance for food and clothing.

Anita said, “I think the Red Cross is great. I had not personally seen them in action until now. I’ve seen them in action when it comes to big disasters, but not smaller ones. I didn’t know how much they can help. Now that I do, I will definitely tell others.”

Anita Cruz from Bronx, NY

"There's nothing that compares to what it feels like to help people."

As a recent psychology graduate looking for something fulfilling to do before embarking on graduate school adventures, I found the idea of working in the Disaster Response department of the NY Red Cross through the AmeriCorps program uniquely exciting. Although from the job description, interviews, trainings and such, I had some idea of what I was in for, no words or textbook descriptions can fully relay what one can experience in this program.

AmeriCorps members working in Red Cross Disaster Response take several weeks of training with the goal of becoming a "Full Responder"—someone authorized to respond to local emergencies and provide assistance without the aid of a trainer/partner. Throughout the training, but especially in the beginning, I was a bit intimidated by what I saw as the huge, extremely important responsibility given to each responder.

I tried to focus on working the computer program that's used, the proper lingo, and other intricacies of Red Cross standard protocol. These technical/mechanical things would sometimes make me so nervous I felt as if I was back in college during finals week; they started to distract me from the bigger truth that I tell anyone who asks me: "Why are you doing this?" The answer is: "To help people."

On my first disaster response, seeing what a client goes through, I remember thinking how very real everything suddenly became. In this instance, the Red Cross was helping a young woman whose home had been destroyed in a fire. The woman lived alone in NY; her family lived in another state. I immediately felt for her; at one time I had been in this exact situation. I snapped out of it and remembered to try to not make this about me, or relate to people so personally. Studying psychology, I learned that if I were to relate to every sad instance I come across, with no healthy boundary, I would go home crying every day.

As the client surveyed her destroyed belongings, her tears, angst, and shock were not only understandable, but likely inevitable. At one point, the responder I was training with, Diane (who is one of my favorite people at the Red Cross), was explaining to the client what assistance the Red Cross could offer her. I compare the feeling I got to watching a movie you know will make you cry, yet, you watch anyway.

The responder spoke to the client with objectivity, balanced with genuine warmth, giving this young woman the strength and clarity she needed during this difficult time. The client wasn't the only person comforted; I felt grateful to witness this exchange, and comforted to see Red Cross responders humbly helping their fellow human beings. As they went down the list of things to do, I brought over some water and a couple snacks. When they were finished speaking, the young woman looked at me and said "Thank you so much. It's nice to know people actually do this."

That moment was the first of many to follow when I realized how vital it is to remember my ultimate goal in these response calls. Sure, it's important to study and know the rules and protocol to be followed. But there's nothing that compares to what it feels like to help people. I remind myself of this each time I start a response shift. I anticipate many more stories to come that reflect this truth.

–Cynthia Martinez, AmeriCorps NPRC Member