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Last week, a group of incredibly talented individuals gathered in Ottawa to attend a week-long Red Cross training session known as IMPACT, short for International Mobilization and Preparation for ACTion. This training includes team building exercises and mock scenarios, all which prepare aid workers to be deployed to the field.

The end of this month marks the second anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. To honour all we have experienced in the past two years, we have pulled together a compilation of remarkable blogs from the Ebola outbreak.

On March 8^th, for International Women’s Day, we wanted to share a couple stories of inspiring women who have made a difference in their Malian communities and, with the help of Red Cross programs, have helped save lives and improve livelihoods.

A former Iranian solider and long-time volunteer, Mahmood Jafari, now calls the Canadian Red Cross his family.

After leaving friends and relatives behind in 1997 to migrate to Calgary, his lonely transition was made easier after he met two former Red Cross staffers, Peter Worsley and Vince Bodnar, who encouraged him to volunteer. Although Mahmood suffered a serious injury in Iraq that left him in a wheelchair, he agreed Red Cross would be a good way to help others.

Dr. Gwendolyn Pang, Secretary General of the Philippine Red Cross, recently paid us a visit at Canadian Red Cross offices in Ontario and British Columbia, where she reaffirmed the strong partnership formed with us in the wake of the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan which struck her country two years ago.

After volunteering with the Canadian Red Cross for 25 years, Carole Campbell has seen the organization grow in Manitoba and says she has grown with it.

When pre-election violence broke out in Burundi in April, volunteers with the Burundi Red Cross were among the first to respond. The protests led to a number of casualties, and forced more than 96,000 people to seek safety in neighbouring countries.

Two years after severe flooding damaged thousands of properties across southern Alberta, the repairs on Chuck Shifflett’s historic High River home are nearly complete. But, like many in the hardest hit regions, Shifflett and his neighbours are still recovering from the disaster. Down his street, four homes were eventually torn down, and just two were rebuilt so far.

The Canadian Red Cross continues to offer a range of programs and services to people affected by the floods in 2013. This includes Red Cross funding for Samaritan’s Purse, Habitat for Humanity, Mennonite Disaster Services and World Renew to help dozens of families in High River and the Calgary area as they rebuild or repair their homes.