Working with the Red Cross to combat homelessness among veterans
Ruth Longenecker is a retired
Navy nurse and the daughter of World War II veterans – her mother an Army nurse,
her father a Navy pilot. Her parents modeled the importance of service to
country and giving back to the community with their words and deeds. Ruth’s mother,
Margaret, was a 50-year volunteer with the Red Cross and the first to teach CPR
using Resusci Annie, the original CPR doll used to train emergency
workers and the public.
Ruth has fond memories
accompanying her brother to their mother’s First Aid classes and volunteering
as practice patients. They thought it was fun to be bandaged from head to toe
and cared for by class participants.
Throughout her active military
career, Ruth continued to volunteer with the Red Cross teaching CPR and Healthy
Pregnancy/Healthy Baby classes on the bases where she was stationed. After
retiring, she moved to Bath, Maine, to be closer to her brother.
In Maine, she tackled a new Red
Cross role with Service to the Armed Forces (SAF). Ruth is passionate about
helping veterans who are experiencing homelessness. SAF helps military members and their
families prepare for, cope with and respond to the challenges of military
service from enlistment through retirement.
Roughly 40,000 veterans are
without shelter in the U.S. on any given night – a statistic Ruth finds
unacceptable. The leading causes of veteran homelessness include:
post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment, social isolation and substance
abuse – all of which make it more challenging to get this population the help
they need.
Ruth shares one recent experience
while working with one such veteran experiencing homelessness.
“I received a call from a
young veteran on his way to a specific town in Maine,” said Ruth. “When I asked
him why that particular town he said, ‘My mom died there about two weeks ago,
and I feel a connection to it.’”
She told him that she would
work with him to arrange transportation and establish a support network when he
arrived, but then the conversation just stopped. Two days later Ruth’s phone
rang. It was the young veteran calling back with an update: he had made it to
the town and, purely by chance, ran into an old friend from high school who
offered to put him up for a few days.
Each new call brings a
different challenge, question or personal situation. Ruth says each caller is
on their own unique journey and she is so thankful she’s there to help.
“The Red Cross is a resource
for all active–duty service members as well as retirees, veterans and their
family members,” said Ruth. “If we can’t help the individual on the other end
of the line, we can offer them a warm hand off to other agencies, but we will
help in whatever way we can to make sure they have the resources they need.”
How do these calls reach Red
Cross SAF volunteers like Ruth?
The Red Cross Hero Care
Network refers service members seeking help. The network provides emergency
communications and critical services to military members and their families all
over the world seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
What would Ruth tell other
military members, veterans or their family members looking for a place to share
their talents and life experience?
“I am blessed, at this point
in my life, to be a volunteer with Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces.
Volunteering with the Red Cross you are truly part of a team, just like when I
was in the Navy,” said Ruth. “Our leadership team is awesome! It is a privilege
to work with our active duty, veterans and their families and to share their
journeys when help and support is needed. We are all a part of the same
family.”
If you’d like more information
about the Hero Care Network – or becoming a Red Cross Service to the Armed
Forces volunteer, visit: https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/military-families.html.
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