Emergency 9

For me, knitting is one of those things that does wonders for my mental health, now more than ever.
As the pile of my so called “pandemic projects” and “COVID cast-ons” grew, I couldn’t help but connect the dots to other times when my chosen hobby played a part during history.

Ololade (Lola) Ogunsuyi has discovered her niche working with the Canadian Red Cross as a site manager, supporting residents and staff at long-term care homes in Ontario. With her penchant for sharing knowledge and solving problems, Lola has instilled confidence in teams as they work to turn the tide against COVID-19.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a year ago, it didn’t take long for newcomers to Canada to start knocking harder on the door of the Battlefords Immigration Resource Centre in Saskatchewan.
“People were being laid off from work. Families were struggling to make ends meet. One lady was crying. She had no food to feed her family. We basically pulled funding out of our reserve fund and gave her some money."

It is Carmen Ferrer’s job to help meet the needs of people who have lost so much in the wake of disasters. As Head of Emergency Operations, she’s responsible for managing the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) regional response to Hurricanes Eta and Iota. Read how she became a leader.

When Mark Pettitt fundraises for his local United Way in Estevan, Saskatchewan, he always tells people that giving is important because, “you never know when you might be the one needing help.”
Little did he know that he would need assistance from the Canadian Red Cross, one of the organizations supported by the United Way Estevan, when an October fire forced his family out of their home in the middle of the night.

It was midnight on November 10, 2020. An already eventful evening, one of their three dogs was having puppies, 11 puppies. Excited by all the action, Katlin’s two young daughters, who would have normally been asleep in their own bedroom, had been up and about and were sleeping in their mom’s bed. That likely saved their lives.

Liane Greter is an emergency management volunteer from New Brunswick who deployed to Winnipeg, MB, where the Canadian Red Cross has been assisting some long-term care (LTC) homes with their COVID-19 response.

For a four-year-old child, receiving a package in the mail is about as exciting as it gets. So imagine the delight when a book is delivered every month. That’s the idea behind the Imagination Library of Wood Buffalo in northern Alberta. The organization delivers an age-appropriate book monthly to more than 1,800 children, from birth until they reach the age of five.