By Rick Padden, American Red Cross Public Affairs
Name: Phillip Pallone
Location: Fort Collins
Length of service: 9 years
GAP: DDO, DAT
Deployments: 3
Phil Pallone was sitting with a group of fellow Marines at the Marine air base, Chu Lai, Vietnam in February of 1968, recuperating from an all-nighter in a fox hole. “I can still clearly picture in my minds’ eye,” he said, “a group walking down the center of the flight line pulling small children’s wagons and occasionally stopping. Marines were swarming around them.”
He said he didn’t know who they were until the wagons came closer. “We walked out to meet them and time seemed to stop. We chatted, ate a few cookies and sipped lemonade with them for what seemed to be an eternity.”
Such was Pallone’s first encounter with the Red Cross. “I was 19, and was awed by their smiles and interaction,” he said. “They took care of us, and that always stuck with me.”
He said it etched “a permanent memory of unsolicited kindness” on him — the same unsolicited kindness that he now attempts to provide to all of the clients he works with as a Red Cross Disaster Duty officer (DDO), Disaster Action Team (DAT) member and shelter worker.
It took awhile for Pallone to get to the Red Cross, however, as he had a few things to do first. He finished his six-year stint with the Marines; married and had three children; earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Akron; joined up again (this time with the army, as he was too old to go back to the Marines); retired from the military as a major after 24 years of service; worked 23 years as an engineer for a steel mill in Cincinnati, OH, then for R.R. Donnelley in Greeley, as well as the DCP gas company in Greeley.
It was while working in Greeley that he joined the Red Cross in 2011. He currently is a substitute teacher of math, science and special education in the Poudre School District, and also tutors at the Huntington Learning Center in Fort Collins.
Pallone got his first real field experience in 2013, during northern Colorado’s severe flooding. “I was in the middle of a sheltering class with Jason Godinez (former Red Cross Disaster Program Manager),” he said. “Halfway through the class he asked if I wouldn’t mind skipping the class and deploying to Berthoud that very day. He wanted me to open up a shelter. I said, sure, if you’ll walk me through it.”
What followed were six or eight weeks of 12 to 14-hour days. “It was a ‘baptism by fire,” he said. “But a lot of it is just common sense. We’ll care for our clients first, and figure it out later – and everything is changeable – even with DAT and DDO. You go out on a DAT call and you just do the best you can and use common sense. If you make a mistake, you fix it.”
DDO and DAT are Pallone’s primary focuses right now, although he used to do a lot of sheltering and shelter management – teaching in those areas as well.
“Sheltering was perfect for me,” he said. “As a shelter guy, I actually got to meet and talk with the clients in person and help them, which was exactly what I saw in Vietnam.
DAT and casework allow him that same personal contact, which he continues to enjoy.
“I like thinking on my feet. You go out and you meet these people who’ve just lost their homes, and you can help them – give them things like disinfectants, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. People will invite you in, because they have nobody to talk to; all their neighbors are busy cleaning up their mess. I like interacting with them; making them feel better – taking care of them emotionally, as well as addressing their physical needs. That’s the fun part – getting out there and making a difference with the clients.”
Pallone said he’s fine with working the shifts that others may avoid “I have DDOs every weekend just about, he said. “I’ll be on duty from Friday night to Sunday morning.”
His wife Cherie understands.
“I went to Germany for 3 years and I was home for maybe about two months out of that (tour). I have a very independent lady, who does what she has to do. I’ve had the same girlfriend for the last 48 years, and we have a lot of fun together.”
What does he think makes him a fit for the Red Cross?
“I try to listen, attentively,” he said. “You have to listen closely, as a client may not say exactly what they mean the first time. You have to read between the lines, and help them express what they need and what they’re feeling. If you can show empathy and compassion for them, they’ll usually open up even more, and we can impart something that will help them.
It’s a two-way street for Pallone, however.
“Every time we talk with someone, we can absorb something that will help us in our own life journey. And you do get that appreciation piece back, and I love seeing it, feeling it.”
His most memorable deployment was to Pine Bluff, Wyoming after a microburst and hail storm a few years ago. He contracted West Nile disease, and it took him three months to recover.
“Regardless if we are on the frontline with shelters, DAT, Casework, or behind the scenes with logistics or one of the many admin support roles, what I’ve learned through my last 9 years is that we are all part of a complete team,” he said. “It takes all of us to show unsolicited kindness to all of our clients.”