Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. I'm Sharon Caraway with the American Red Cross. I'm the executive director for the Captal Area chapter located here in Tallahassee. I started with the Red Cross in 2004. And the reason is I was in Texas. I'm from Tallahassee, Born and Raised and all the hurricanes were hitting Florida and I felt like I needed to do something. So I volunteer, they deployed me and it's been a long, wonderful journey. Red Cross provides a hand of help and a hug of hope. They've got to have that hope right there with that help and to know that things are going to be okay. And so that's the job that we're in, you know, trying to make sure that the community gets the resources that they need but also has hope and know that there's people out here that care and will be there for them. I started out as a volunteer and it's not many people. I don't think that have the opportunity for their volunteer work, their passion to morph into a career. And so it has. And so it's honestly working with the volunteers seeing the light shine in their eyes when they've come in and they tell a story about helping people and what they were able to accomplish and then knowing on the flip side the help that the clients receive. You can't help but be inspired. We've got the most selfless volunteers in the world. Not many people are willing to come halfway across the country and sleep on a cot. I personally feel like everybody's put on this earth for a purpose. So I encourage people to find their purpose and I'm gonna go out on the limb and say 99.9% the purpose is not gonna be about them. It's gonna be about what can you do to help others or what service can you give to others. I'm sharing Careway, American Red Cross Executive Director for Capital Area Chapter. I encourage you to be a helper, help your neighbors. You're listening to voices that inspire.