Yes ma'am, I worked there.

I worked for the local ARC for over 16 years. (If you know me, you know what that stands for.)

I was laid off in 1996. I worked in just about every position at ARC.
From calling in blood donors; working in the mail room – printing a million + “learn to swim” applications;
to the safety office – signing up class participants and teaching or scheduling volunteer teachers for first aid/CPR and swimming courses;
then on to the public information office – working fund raisers and designing brochures and reports;
until finally I was the assistant to the chapter manager – which was really a great job, too.

I really loved working there. The volunteers were down to earth and real. I even got to work a disaster during my last year. It was very hard work, but very rewarding as well. The feeling you get when you help someone who has just lost everything they own is - impossible to describe. It’s a good feeling with a LOT of sadness surrounding the feeling.

The disaster I worked was the 1996 Ft. Smith Tornado. The twister leveled a couple of neighborhoods just outside of town. A child was killed, many were injured and many homes were destroyed.

I just cannot imagine going through something like that. Those poor people were left without anything. Everything they owned was strewn from Ft. Smith to Ozark. As a volunteer, I interviewed the displaced to try and determine their immediate needs. It was so sad. Some, who barely had anything to begin with, had nothing now. And they were just so grateful to get a mop, broom and a bucket.

I really miss my old friends from the ARC. They (the volunteers) really are a great group of people.