This holiday season, the Red Cross is saying 'Thanks for Giving' by highlighting our volunteers. We hope you will visit our website each day until Thanksgiving, as we share inspirational stories about our volunteers, their contributions and reasons for helping our community through the Red Cross. To support their work, make a donation today.

Linda Cutler’s defining Red Cross moment came when she walked into a shelter in Houston, Texas that served thousands of victims of Hurrican Ike. Her awe at the size of the operation, and the efficiency, can still be heard in her voice a year later.

“The experience was great - so rewarding. It was the culmination of all my time and work with Red Cross,” she smiles.

For two weeks, Linda helped prepare meals in a mobile kitchen operation serving the shelter and then spent several weeks delivering meals to people in hard-hit rural areas.

“A wonderful part of the job was that you got to talk to people we served, as well as getting to know a lot of great volunteers. It made the hard work and challenging circumstances so worthwhile. In the kitchen, I didn’t even have a photo left on my ID because of all the bleach sanitizing I did,” she laughs.

Sanitizing is a far cry from the work Linda was involved in for more than 25 years at her local Red Cross chapter. Now a Lifetime Member of the chapter’s Board of Directors, she has been involved in service evaluation, volunteer recognition, governance and auditing of Red Cross finances. With her recent assignment behind her, Linda has seen multiple sides of service delivery---policy, financial and field work. The experience has cemented her faith in the Red Cross.

“At Red Cross, your dollars are used effectively. We work hard to ensure that,” she says.

With that knowledge in hand, Linda is reaching out into her community with a simple message.

“You can contribute on so many levels,” she says. “There is something at the Red Cross for everyone.”

For now, Linda is reaching into her community to find Heroes---businesses and groups willing to support the Red Cross with proceeds from events, collection jars, any kind of fundraiser that helps people affected by disasters and emergencies---like the clients she met in Texas.

“The more involved you get, the more you can appreciate the work that the Red Cross does locally, nationally and around the world,” she says with a smile. “It’s absolutely essential. The Red Cross does it so well.”

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.You can also support the Red Cross online by becoming a fan on our facebook page and following us on Twitter.