Americorps member, Nhan Nguyen, has worked for the Ottawa County Chapter of the American Red Cross for nine months. During this short time he has had a major impact on our ability to assist clients and the community in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters.  He has also played a major role in improving and expanding our community disaster education programs. Nhan is an enthusiastic and creative individual who is self-motivated and communicates well with our volunteers, clients and staff.

Nhan’s greatest contribution to the Red Cross has come from his involvement with our Disaster Services department. He provided valuable administrative support to the Disaster Services leadership by maintaining all disaster response records. He also served as a member of the Disaster Action Team; this group of volunteers responds to local disasters such as house fires, flooding, etc. He has responded to several calls for client assistance and helped staff the Canteen van we operate for the fire fighters and police officers who work at the disaster scenes.

Because of his involvement with Disaster Services, Nhan has a unique perspective on the suffering people experience following a house fire. Nhan interviewed some of our clients and from those interviews, created a beautifully poignant video in which the clients tell their story about what the Red Cross has done for them. This video was so well done that we take it into the community to meetings and other events to educate the public about the role we play in helping people prepare for and recover from these tragedies. The overwhelming response we receive following a showing of this video is that people are amazed to learn about what we do to help people. His technical expertise in producing this video and several others for us has directly impacted our ability to create a greater visibility for our chapter in the community.

In addition to his work with Disaster Services, Nhan has also been actively involved with strengthening the Grand Valley State University Red Cross Club and has been the driving force behind the formation of a Red Cross Club for the students of Hope College here in Holland. He has visited schools, churches and other groups to educate people about emergency preparedness. His actions on our behalf and the production of high quality videos have been key in our efforts to increase our presence within the community. Our visibility in the community has never been stronger.

Nhan also took on the role of a military caseworker for our Armed Forces Emergency Services program. He is an effective communicator who shows great empathy and compassion for military families when they were faced with an emergency and needed to have their service man or woman brought home.

Nhan has become an integral part of our organization and must be credited with much of the success we have experienced this past year. He is a worthy candidate for this award.