Working for a Big Non-Profit

[CJMSW]

I've been looking at the American Red Cross for employment a lot lately. I saw on their career page that they have a division called "Services to the Armed Forces". As someone who is going into the Social Work field and having a strong passion for the military/our veterans I thought this might be a great opportunity. Has anyone had experience working with the Red Cross in that division?  I never realized they even worked with the military until I saw the job postings.

[mpheels]

I volunteer with the Red Cross in the disaster services division, but learned a bit about the Armed Services division during volunteer orientation.

 

The primary function the Armed Services division is to assist in contacting armed services personnel serving overseas when there is an emergency at home. For example, if an immediate family member is ill or injured, the family at home contacts the Red Cross, who in turn contacts the military unit and makes arrangements to get person serving overseas home. All emergency leave arrangements are made through the Red Cross - if a family member contacts the military unit directly, they are referred to the Red Cross. Once arrangements are made, the Red Cross will stay in touch with the family and make sure everything works as smoothly as possible, and they have everything they need. Red Cross may also help with referrals to other services (finding a hotel, vouchers for parking or gas), similar to the work of a hospital social worker.

 

The division also organizes a lot of events for military families. I live in a state with a lot of military installations, so we may have more of these events than other parts of the country. My chapter is constantly helping out with picnics and other family events for active duty military.

[CJMSW]

Thank you for the response. I actually ended up being offered the position...and took it! As you rightly pointed out, the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces division works primarily on emergency communication for members of the military, but now I'm pushing hard to expand the services we offer at my location. Fortunately, our facility is located on a large military installation so there is a good deal of opportunities to expand!

[mpheels]

Congratulations! I've really enjoyed my work with ARC so far. It's a great organization, and right now they are going through some transition that will make it even better, I think. I haven't been able to do as much as I hoped when I signed up - the disasters always happen at times I can't be away from home/work for two weeks.