With endless compassion and dedication, American Red Cross volunteers give of themselves as they respond to disasters both in their community and around the country. They are prepared and capable of helping people – whenever and wherever they are needed. Volunteers make up more than 90 percent of our workforce and are genuinely selfless—often working 12-hour shifts and spending weeks at a time away from home and their loved ones.
This is especially true for three incredible Red Crossers who were instrumental to the Red Cross Colorado wildfire disaster response. Last week, we recognized and celebrated Diana Dalager, Julia Pedrosa and Sarah Donaldson for their extraordinary dedication to the Red Cross mission.
Diana Dalager
Diana has been a go-to disaster responder all summer. She has worked on almost every disaster response that our region has responded to – from apartment fires to Colorado wildfires. Somehow Diana found extra time in her schedule to help with the Hurricane Laura response in the Gulf Coast.
Diana was part of the initial team that responded to the Cameron Peak fire. When the East Troublesome, Calwood and Lefthand Canyon fires began to threaten Northern Colorado communities, she deployed again. Diana’s role was to oversee more than 40 shelters and two campgrounds in five counties. Diana and the Red Cross team provided shelter, food and individual services to over 2,600 individuals displaced by the Colorado wildfires.
Diana handled this very dynamic situation with her customary grace. She worked extremely long hours and was able to pivot quickly to accommodate the frequently changing circumstances. Diana goes above and beyond and we are proud she is part of the Colorado and Wyoming team!
Sarah Donaldson:
We would have been absolutely lost without Sarah’s support on the Colorado wildfire response. She coordinated the lodging needs for all of our volunteers and evacuees and was responsible for tracking more than 1,100 rooms for 2,600 clients. It was a monumental task and we gave it to Sarah without any previous experience dealing with Corporate Lodging Consultants (CLC) – and with very little guidance.
Sarah quickly figured out her job, working with both leadership and multiple liaisons to CLC to ensure that we had the appropriate number of rooms and that rooms were canceled as evacuees moved out. It has been a very frustrating and challenging experience, which she has handled beautifully. When her workload lightened and we had another high priority project, she volunteered to assist with being equally challenging and frustrating. Sarah is definitely a keeper!! Thank you, Sarah!
Julia Pedrosa:
Julia, an employee from the Missouri and Arkansas region, was working with Diana and the sheltering team when an emergent project popped up. Because of her capability and intelligence, Julia was the logical choice for this demanding, time-consuming project. The task was to transfer thousands of client’s data to a new system. Hundreds and hundreds of data points needed to be researched and reentered – in four days. She created a team from scratch and went to work training them. Slow uploads, missing information, access issues and database management made the job challenging, but Julia’s positivity and dedication kept her team in good spirits and they persevered through the issues. Because of the new system and the work of Julia and her team, the Red Cross could potentially save millions of dollars. Thank you, Julia!
So grateful for the diligent work of the Red Cross of Colorado! A special congratulations to my friend Diana Dalager, known by all as a talented, tireless, determined lady with a heart for the hurting. 💗🏆🇺🇸