Service Above Self: Jim Rogers

Written by Remy Kennedy
Photos courtesy of Jim Rogers

Jim Rogers shared a favorite quote with us: “Rivers do not drink their own water. Trees do not eat their own fruit. The sun does not shine on itself. And flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature…” It resonates with him because of his beliefs around volunteering. “I believe you have to give back. A lot of people want to, but they don’t know how to get involved. Everybody I’ve asked to volunteer has always done it,” said Jim. 

Working at Hilliard Lyons as the COO (Chief Operating Officer) for 30 years, Jim spends his retirement time helping the community. He serves on the board of directors at the University of Louisville, is a trustee for the Kentucky Colonels, and he’s a previous board member for our Red Cross Kentucky Region. Jim now chairs our Red Cross disaster committee. He has also volunteered at the Neighborhood House and Lincoln Heritage Boy Scouts of America in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Jim is passionate about our organization because “Red Cross basically saved both my kids’ lives. My son had a total blood transfusion at birth. My daughter in her early teens also had a blood transfusion for different reasons. For my son, it was life and death. It was the last option available… It was Red Cross blood donors that saved their lives.” 

A Portland neighborhood native, growth opportunities in the west end is part of Jim’s mission. He led the initiative to install smoke alarms in Portland neighborhoods as part of our Sound the Alarm campaign. He teaches CPR & First Aid classes, and almost all staff at the Neighborhood House have been certified thanks to Jim’s efforts. He believes education is the key for kids who live in underserved areas. “I mean education holistically. I think trade schools are wonderful. Not every kid needs or should go to college… Growing up in a family business, education could mean starting your own business. Betterment of yourself.” 

Jim frequently gathers with his high school classmates, collectively raising funds for educational tools benefiting youth on the west end. “Everywhere, I believe you can’t be what you can’t see. These kids, they don’t see jobs at Red Cross. They don’t see a bank. A 17-year-old shadowed me at my office one day. I had her come down to sit in operations, sit in the IT department. She saw people of color doing all these jobs she never knew existed,” he said. 

Jim has deployed with Red Cross to Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Kentucky. “I’m one who wants to be boots on the ground. I don’t want to sit in the office and supervise. I want to be out helping people. Feeding them, bringing them supplies, doing disaster assessment,” he explained. His favorite part? Developing bonds with people. “When I got back from feeding a church in New Orleans, all the families in the church got together and sent me a huge Louisiana care package. Beignets, chicory coffee, t-shirts, and pictures. Just a thank you for me being down there. I developed all these friendships.” 

Jim and his family

My Story: Deploying to help after Hurricane Milton

Written by Amy Miller, Communications Manager for the American Red Cross Kentucky Region

What got you involved with the Red Cross?

Amy outside the Red Cross
Tampa Bay Regional Headquarters,
Tampa, FL

I learned about the Red Cross in 2015 when I was looking for opportunities to expand my skills after I graduated from college. I started out writing volunteer profiles and monitoring social media as a public affairs volunteer with the Louisville Area Chapter, my local chapter. I’ve been with the Red Cross ever since, and recently became the Communications Manager for the Kentucky Region. In the 9 years I’ve been with the Red Cross, I’ve helped with our Sound the Alarm smoke alarm installation events, visited blood drives to talk to donors and traveled across the state for tornado, severe weather and flood responses. My first disaster relief operation was the response to the 2018 flooding that impacted communities along the Ohio River. More recently, I deployed to Franklin, Kentucky to support the 2021 December tornado response, and Lexington, Kentucky to help after flooding impacted Eastern Kentucky in 2022. This October, I had the opportunity to help communities in Florida that were impacted by Hurricane Milton on my first national disaster relief operation.

What’s deployment to a disaster relief operation like?

I think most people think of sheltering or feeding when they think of deployment, which are vital roles during a disaster relief operation, but there are a lot of other ways you can volunteer, too! When I deploy, I deploy as part of our Red Cross public affairs team. The public affairs team, in a nutshell, tells the story of the Red Cross and the communities the Red Cross is helping. This can mean doing interviews with the media to share information about how the Red Cross is responding. It can also mean going out to shelters, distribution sites and other events in disaster-impacted communities. We take photos of the work Red Crossers are doing, get quotes from the partners we work alongside, and help share the stories of the people we’re helping.

Tampa, FL. Photo credit: Sivani Babu, 
American Red Cross Central California Region

Deployments last for at least two weeks. When I went to Florida for Hurricane Milton, I stayed at a hotel near Tampa for a few days and then spent the rest of my time there in a staff shelter. I was paired with another public affairs volunteer, and we were partners for the whole deployment. We would take turns driving to our assignments, taking photos and asking questions during the day. When we returned to our lodging at night, we’d sort through the day’s photos, write up stories and captions and make plans for the next day’s activities. Wherever there were Red Crossers at work is where we’d be to help share their stories and get information out to the community.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I pack when I deploy. I’ve taken to telling them a sense of humor and a lot of flexibility. Disaster relief operations are constantly adapting and changing to meet the needs of the community. One day my partner and I would be working with a volunteer team passing out lunches and supplies at a community center in Tampa. The next, we’d be three hours away in Vero Beach following an emergency response vehicle as it traveled through tornado-devastated neighborhoods to serve hot meals to the community. You have to be flexible to be able to better help the people we serve!

The humor comes in handy on long car rides and after long days. Being able to go back to the staff shelter and share stories with people who come from all over the country to help was an amazing way to end each day.

What’s the difference between deploying nationally and deploying at home?

Hurricane debris near Horseshoe Beach, FL.

The biggest difference I noticed when I deployed for Hurricane Milton was being able to fully immerse myself in the disaster response. When you respond to a disaster in your own backyard, you may be impacted yourself or know people who were affected. When I was in Florida, I kept in touch with people back home, but my only focus was on the community in Florida and how I could help. It gave me a better appreciation of the volunteers who leave their families and put their own lives on hold for two weeks to lend a hand during disasters across the country.

Is there a moment from deploying that stands out to you?

It’s hard to pick the most memorable moment from my Hurricane Milton deployment because every day was something new. Early in the deployment, I remember my partner and I sitting down at the end of a long day on the road with the congregation of a church the volunteers we’d been following had delivered meals to. The residents there had only recently gotten power back to their neighborhood and had lost all the food in their refrigerators, but they’d invited us to stay and have dinner with them.

One of the most impactful experiences came on our last day of deployment. My partner and I got a tour of a beautiful small town on the Gulf of Mexico about three hours north of Tampa, on the back of a golf cart. Every single building had been damaged by hurricanes and flooding. The resident who gave us the tour had been working with the Red Cross long-term recovery team since Hurricane Idalia destroyed her home in 2023, and the Red Cross was continuing to support her through the devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. She shared with us that when things settled in her life, she wanted to become a Red Cross volunteer and help others the way the Red Cross had helped her.

Pinellas Park, FL. Photo credit: Sivani Babu, 
American Red Cross Central California Region

Sprinkled in between were the intensely human interactions that reminded me of how important the Red Cross mission to end human suffering is: Being able to talk to people working in businesses in Tampa and lending an ear and a shoulder when they shared how their homes and loved ones had been impacted by the hurricanes; laughing with people from an impacted community who had stopped their truck to check on me, because I’d gotten out of the car to help a turtle cross the road; working alongside local Red Cross volunteers who had been supporting their neighbors since the beginning of hurricane season, while navigating their own hurricane clean up.

Every day, I spoke with someone who had been impacted by the hurricanes or who had been helped by the Red Cross. It was a humbling and rewarding experience.

The mission of the Red Cross would not be possible without our volunteers and donors. Our volunteers are on the ground, supporting people as they recover from what can be the worst moments of their lives. Our donors make the Red Cross mission possible. Their support allows Red Crossers like me to deploy to disasters like Hurricane Milton to support communities in times of need. You can learn more about supporting the mission of the Red Cross by visiting redcross.org/gift.

American Red Cross volunteers recognized for service at Fort Knox ceremony

Story and photos by Kevin Sandell, Communications Volunteer

FORT KNOX, Ky. – Over 20 volunteers who serve within the American Red Cross Kentucky Region were recognized for their service earlier this fall, during a lunchtime ceremony at Fort Knox, the sprawling U.S. Army base south of Louisville. Many of the recognized volunteers had served hundreds or even thousands of hours to Red Cross chapters throughout the state.

Fort Knox is home to the Warrior Warehouse, a function of the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces program, and is a building where service members and their families can shop for donated household, clothing, and food items. The warehouse is also the location for the annual “Santa’s Workshop” on base that provides free, donated toys to children of U.S. service members stationed at Fort Knox during the holidays.

One volunteer, who was recognized as the Volunteer of the Year for her 14-year service to the South Central Kentucky Chapter of the Red Cross, said the honor is humbling.

Deann Burns (center) received the Volunteer of the Year award at a
Red Cross volunteer recognition ceremony, Aug. 13, at Fort Knox, Ky.
Burns has served as a volunteer for 14 years
with the Red Cross Kentucky Region. 

“I don’t volunteer for the recognition, or for anticipation of an award, or to try and achieve some elusive number of volunteer hours that are tallied each month with the right to brag,” said Deann Burns, a spouse of a former soldier stationed at Fort Knox. “I volunteer to help someone that may be experiencing some challenges and who needs a little extra help, a kind word or a smile, and to make it a little easier for them to make it through the month.” 

During the ceremony, Burns received a silver platter engraved with her name from members of the American Red Cross Kentucky Region and later described her start with the organization. She began volunteering for the Red Cross in 1981 when her husband was stationed in Grafenwoehr, Germany. When she and her husband arrived at Fort Knox in 2010, there were no Red Cross-hosted blood drives on post, and she was initially asked to be a Blood Donor Ambassador to spearhead the program on base.

Five years later, she was asked to be the Santa’s Workshop Coordinator, where she directed volunteer recruitment, toy donations and coordination with off-base stores and charities, marketing and promotion efforts, and distributing toys to Fort Knox families. Her first year in the job, the Santa’s Workshop provided toys and books to over 200 military families. In the years since, the Santa’s Workshop program has grown in popularity, and nearly 300 children are helped every year.

Another volunteer, who achieved 10,956 hours of volunteer service to the Red Cross services on Fort Knox, said her extensive volunteerism came from being an “empty nester” and wanting to give back to the Red Cross.

Amy Grimm (center), a volunteer with the Red Cross at Fort Knox, Ky.,
earned nearly 11,000 hours of volunteer service, and was recognized
for her service during a volunteer ceremony, Aug. 13, at Fort Knox. 

“[Being recognized] is not what drives us to do what we do, but it's nice to be recognized,” said Amy Grimm, a Fort Knox volunteer and military spouse. “All my kids left at the same time and I just didn’t know what to do with my hands … It worked out perfectly that I could dive into this resource that I’m really trying to assist families with versus staying at home and doing nothing.”

Grimm added that she’s a firm believer of “doing something positive” with her time and that it “fills [my] soul.”

A Red Cross youth volunteer, Gabe Fulkerson, was recognized during the ceremony for his outstanding work with the International Humanitarian Law Youth Action Campaign. The Glendale, Kentucky native is a first-year aeronautics student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, and said he volunteers for multiple reasons.

“I volunteer with the Red Cross to improve myself as a person and because I enjoy helping people,” Fulkerson said.

The International Human Law Youth Action Campaign empowers high school and college-aged students to learn about laws that govern armed conflict, known as international humanitarian law. Youth volunteers educate the American public on humanitarian law through peer-to-peer education campaigns and training.

Fulkerson added that other students should volunteer with the Red Cross because doing so “shows leadership, cooperation, and compassion, all of which are skills colleges are looking for.”

Other volunteers recognized during the ceremony received Exceptional Volunteer Service Awards and Time-in-Service Awards for volunteering with Red Cross chapters across the state.

Red Cross volunteers from throughout the Kentucky Region were
recognized for exceptional volunteer service during a
recognition ceremony, Aug.13, at Fort Knox. 

Disaster Action Team Volunteer, Peter Waldrab, Says Helping Others is 'Rewarding'

Written by Kelly Carroll. Photos provided by Peter Waldrab.

Every day dedicated Red Cross volunteers in Kentucky help their neighbors recover from disasters. When the unthinkable happens, like a house fire, these volunteers assist disaster victims in big and small ways. Peter Waldrab is one such dedicated volunteer. 

Peter and his wife, Alicia, are Disaster Action Team (DAT) volunteers who meet with families just after they've experienced a home fire. Peter said, "We meet with families, talk with them, and collect information to help case workers get families assistance with recovery." Peter and Alicia serve with the Red Cross in addition to maintaining day jobs and raising three children.  

Peter is the VP of Electric Distributions Operations for Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU). In this role, he leads a team responsible for keeping the lights on in about one million Kentucky homes. Peter explained that because his work keeps him very busy on weekdays, he often volunteers with the Red Cross on weekends.  

Peter started volunteering with the Red Cross Kentucky Region in 2023 after moving to Louisville from Philadelphia in 2022. He explained that supporting others through volunteering is important to him. He emigrated to the United States from the United Kingdom at a young age, and because he received "invaluable helping hands along the way," he wanted to help others. He has previously volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and food banks.  

In addition to helping him give back to the community, volunteering with the Red Cross has also helped Peter get to know the communities in Louisville. "I've met some incredible people volunteering," Peter said. "It's incredible to see how people come together for one another in a difficult time. I routinely see neighbors who were strangers before a fire occurs jump in to support one another in recovery." 

Peter recalled responding to a recent home fire in Indiana where the family lost everything. "The smoke alarms went off, and the family had time to evacuate, but they only got out of the house with the pajamas that they were wearing, their dog, and their cellphones.  Everything else—wallets, cars, etc—was destroyed in the fire." Peter explained that even though the family had insurance to replace their things, they needed short-term help. They had lost their wallets and cars and couldn't get around or buy the things they needed for the next few days. "We were able to provide some valuable information and cover their immediate needs. It was a huge relief for the family, and a rewarding moment for my wife and I," Peter said.  

DAT volunteers like Peter and Alicia make an immeasurable impact on the lives of the people they serve. Thank you, Peter, Alicia, and all the other DAT volunteers, for your continued service! 

Josh Riddle: Neighbors Helping Neighbors through the Red Cross Community Adaptation Program

Written by Remy Kennedy

Josh Riddle wants the message about the Red Cross community adaptation program (CAP) to be one of longevity. “I don’t like to say CAP is only linked to disasters. We’re doing the work whether there’s a disaster or not,” he said. Coming from 7 years of foster care work, Josh joined us in 2022 as our CAP Risk Reduction Manager within Warren County, Kentucky. CAP’s goal within the county is to bolster existing nonprofits and community resources with a focus on the international and low-income communities.  

“Our three H’s are health, hunger and housing. If you take [the 2021] tornado out of the picture, the need is still extremely high. Families need to be connected to food sources. Reliable transportation. Affordable housing. I don’t want people to focus on the tornado. We are working with the community so in case [disruption] happens, people will be more resilient and less likely to be displaced from their homes…,” said Josh. One team goal is to build community coalitions comprised of local organizations to hold regular meetings to brainstorm and plan. 

Josh spoke with us about how the credit for building up the community goes to the people and neighbors helping neighbors. “They were already doing the work. I don’t want to say we are coming in and building resilient people. The resiliency was already there. I’ve never seen groups of people come together like that (after the tornado response). The community was already working together, we are just helping fill in some gaps.” 

The CAP team is working with 15 local partners to improve their programming and community reach. The team helped the International Center of Kentucky install an industrial kitchen in their building, where the women are doing cooking classes and providing food resources. They have provided a passenger van, commercial refrigerators, and freezers to the Delafield Co-Op market. House on the Hill received apple smart devices, walk in coolers and a box truck to assist with their food delivery service. 

These are just a few of the services CAP has provided to help these local organizations provide aid to more families in need. Josh said no day is the same and there isn’t a set “routine” for his job, but he likes it that way. “I have a passion for helping others… It’s a new adventure and a new type of problem to solve every day.” 

Josh has a daughter named Sierra and three grandkids, Kacie, Axel, and Jameson. He’s married to Melissa, and they play in the band, Wet Eyed Liars, together. Melissa sings and plays the guitar, and Josh plays the drums. You can find Wet Eyed Liars on all the streaming services! Josh loves the outdoors and hiking. When he’s at home, he’s snuggling his two dogs, Ollie and Mitski.