Disaster Relief Intern

My overall experience was insightful and enriching as it allowed me to try something new and become more familiar with volunteer experience. Although I was an intern, much of my work was volunteer based and allowed me to work in a different kind of environment. I had prior experience in working with the Red Cross before; however, it was only once or twice a month where we helped with making gift boxes around the holiday season and donating and contributing to help community efforts. I am now a disaster's relief intern who foresees event planning for the local counties since disaster efforts were down in the state. I work for my disaster program specialist James Copeland for who works for West Central Indiana. Since they had an update to their system I was no longer involved in casework but rather assigned to a new project. This included inviting schools in our re-launching of a program which was created in an attempt to educate the 3-5th grade children about fire hazards and safety. I was assigned to a total of 12 counties and had to research the elementary schools in each county and get in contact with the principals via phone or email and ask them if can we present a virtual learning module. Since I have extended my internship since December I've only accumulated about 50-60 hours thus far and plan on finishing the rest by the last week of Dec. As James has told me what I do is a vital part of what the company stands for and is helping in assisting with "time-sensitive" tasks and getting them done in a timely manner.

Supervisor: Steven Lucas

Company: American Red Cross

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