By Rick Padden, American Red Cross Public Affairs Volunteers
Location: Fort Collins
Name: Ed and Linda Archer
GAP: Disaster Action Team (DAT)
Length of service: 16/11 years
The American Red Cross is one of the few organizations that crosses borders and boundaries, according to Ed Archer of Fort Collins. “And we’re international people,” he said in a recent interview. Indeed, he and his wife (of 56 years), Linda, have crossed a few borders.
They met as Peace Corp volunteers originally, and found that they traveled together quite well. Ed eventually joined the Foreign Service, retired after 32 years, and then Linda joined up. Their joint service took them through a series of 3-4 year stints in Laos, Liberia, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Ed began Red Cross volunteer work in 2003 in Washington, DC, followed by Linda in 2008, and the couple moved to Fort Collins six years ago (to be close to their children and grandchildren).
While they haven’t deployed to other states, Ed and Linda have involved themselves locally by taking 2-3 Disaster Action Team (DAT) calls a year, helping with the Red Cross Pillow Case Project and the Sound the Alarm smoke detector program. Living abroad left them with language skills in Italian, Swedish, French and Spanish, and the couple takes Red Cross calls when interpreter services are needed as well.
Most of the 60,000 emergencies that the Red Cross responds to each year are local, personal disasters like home fires, and DAT volunteers like Ed and Linda are ready to do the real, nitty-gritty, on-call work all year long. Linda especially enjoys providing financial assistance to disaster clients. “It makes me feel like a millionaire,” she said.
“I remember one fire, the guy was burned out. He’s in his slippers and pajamas, and it’s 4 o’clock in the morning – he’s got nothing, and it’s freezing cold. We gave him enough money to buy shoes, a winter coat, new underwear, money for gasoline and a temporary hotel room. You really feel good when you can help people – give them a (financial assistance) card right then and there.” “And we tell them,” Ed said, “This money doesn’t come from us. It’s Red Cross donations from your neighbors.” “And the Red Cross doesn’t ask for immigration papers,” added Linda. “That’s very important to me.”
Linda cited an instance when her cross-cultural acuity paid off. “We were working at a shelter in Washington, DC, and they sent me to the kitchen to help feed some 50 families, mostly Spanish-speaking men from a huge apartment complex fire. They had piles of food for breakfast, and nobody wanted it. At lunch, same thing. When I found what country most of them were from – a country I’d lived in – I realized their custom was to only eat when served food at the table, not buffet style. They hadn’t eaten in two days, so I went around, food boxes in hand, and asked them politely to please take this. That made the difference.”
Linda also noted a difference between shelter usage in big cities back east and Colorado towns like Fort Collins and Windsor. “There, people use the shelters, while here the shelters are almost empty, because everyone has friends and family close by.” She said another difference is with the animals. “In big cities, they’re dealing with cats and dogs, and it’s different here.” Ed remembers working the Windsor tornado shelter, where there were horses, cows, goats and sheep that needed rescue. “The Mennonites came over and collaborated with us in “At another fire,” Linda said, “A guy was screaming ‘You gotta let me in, my pet’s in there!’ It was a huge python. Don’t know what happened with that one.”
Ed believes fire calls have dwindled somewhat because of Red Cross prevention efforts like Sound the Alarm. “Fortunately, we don’t get as many fire calls now,” he said. Ed got his undergraduate degree in political science from the City University of New York; a masters degree in international affairs from the American University in Washington, DC; was sent by the State Department to study economics at Harvard University for a year; and became a political and labor officer in his Foreign Service years. Linda obtained her bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkley and became a commercial attaché in the Foreign Service. It’s all given them particular skills at navigating relationships and dealing compassionately with disaster clients in the field. The couple has also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in the past, and joined Fort Collins’ Master Naturalists program.