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May is Military Appreciation Month, and the American Red Cross Southern California Region is offering ways that you can turn ‘thank you for your service’ into action and help serve military members and their families here in Southern California, and beyond.
For those with a military background or just a heart for military and veteran communities, many opportunities to volunteer and support are available in Southern California. There are volunteer roles for a variety of schedules and interests, and all training is provided by the Red Cross.
The Red Cross provides support to the military community at every step of their career — from the time a service member takes their oath to navigating life as a veteran and each event in between. You can find Red Cross support of military communities across the globe at military hospitals, on installations locally and overseas and through local chapter offices in every state.
“Military families experience emergencies, just like civilian families,” said Raul Diaz, Regional Service to the Armed Forces Program Manager for the American Red Cross Southern California Region, and U.S. Army veteran. “Oftentimes, military families go through a crisis separated from a family member who is deployed. Handling an emergency without your support system can be challenging, but our Red Cross volunteers make a huge difference in the lives of our military families through the emergency relief that we can provide.”
ANSWER EMERGENCY CALLS WITH THE HERO CARE NETWORK. The Red Cross Hero Care Network is a free 24/7 support system for military and veteran families when they are facing life-changing events like the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a medical emergency or even a financial crisis. The Red Cross is the only organization to provide this emergency messaging service to separated and active-duty military families.
- Volunteers help serve military members each day by answering calls, delivering messages and opening cases to support connections to additional resources.
VOLUNTEER AT A MILITARY OR VETERAN HOSPITAL. The Red Cross has medical and non-medical volunteers that help provide care, comfort and therapy at military medical facilities in the U.S. and all around the world.
- Medical Volunteers: Licensed doctors or nurses help support hospital staff in a variety of ways, including seeing patients in-person or through telehealth, nurse charting, answering calls and more.
- Non-medical Volunteers: Non-medical volunteers help with a variety of programs including visiting patients; manning coffee, snack and book carts; providing innovative therapy classes and welfare and morale programs; distributing care and comfort items to patients and medical staff, and more.
TEACH MENTAL WELLNESS WORKSHOPS. The Red Cross conducts mental wellness courses, called Resiliency Workshops, for military and veteran families.
- Programs are free, confidential and are offered in-person or online by licensed mental health professionals.
The programs help service members, veterans and their families build resilience, manage stress and address trauma. - Mental health professionals serve as volunteer leaders of Resiliency Workshops for military and veteran communities.
Volunteer Today – Turn your appreciation into action by volunteering with the Red Cross today. To learn more, visit redcross.org/volunteer. Visit redcross.org/military for full information about programs that support military communities.
