Red Cross honors its volunteers

Willie Shaver started volunteering early in life, joining up with the military right out of high school, which happened to be in the middle of World War II.

He never stopped, and the U.S. Army Air Force veteran has given his time to a number of organizations, including the American Red Cross.

The 75-year-old Rowan County serves on the disaster response team for the Elizabeth Hanford Dole Chapter of the American Red Cross.

He does it, he says, simply for “the satisfaction of helping somebody.”

He was among the volunteers the organization honored at a ceremony Saturday.

“The Red Cross is an organization that was founded by a group of volunteers,”Executive Director Evelyn McMahon said. “To this day, the Red Cross — all the good work that it does around the world — could not do it without volunteers.”

The organization paid special tribute to its volunteers who are also veterans, and remembered veterans who have lost their lives in the service of the nation.

The Red Cross treated the volunteers to music and refreshments. And Time Warner Cable arranged for them to tour a bus used by the cable network C-Span.

The bus, as long as a commercial carrier, is one of two that makes stops around the country. A rolling production studio, it allows the network, which specializes in political coverage, to broadcast from anywhere, and to educate the public about its mission.

After a stop at South Rowan High School on Monday, the bus heads to Greensboro.

Before the tours, though, volunteers received thanks from the local chapter’s board of directors Chairman Robert Allen and the directors of programs including Health and Safety, Youth in Action and Blood Services.

Sherry Smith, who coordinates blood drives throughout Rowan County, said she relies heavily on local residents willing to give their time so others can give blood.

“I couldn’t do this by myself,” she said.

And Paul Wilson, director of Emergency and Disaster Services, said volunteers trained to respond in a crisis are essential because disaster can strike anywhere.

Red Cross volunteers can be called to all parts of the world, and a local team responded to Washington after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to help feed workers there.

But local disasters, like house fires, can be just as devastating on a personal level, and Wilson said he’s proud to have committed volunteers to respond to those, as well.

“When you get a phone call from a citizen who says ‘I lost everything I’ve got and you had nine people come out at two o’clock in the morning to talk to me, to help me, to comfort me,’ that’s a blessing,”Wilson said.

Shaver says that for him and other volunteers honored Saturday, the blessing goes both ways.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com .