Sherrilyn Hamilton is no stranger to disaster. In 2012, her Montana home in the Bull Mountains burned during the Dahl fire. The Red Cross was there to help. Now Sherrilyn is helping others in disaster’s path. “I promised myself that if I could do that for someone else, then I would have accomplished something,” she said.
After the Dahl wildfire tore through her ranch in the Bull Mountains near Roundup, Sherrilyn Hamilton and her husband, Kendal, were wiped out.
The 2012 fire burned 73 homes, among them Sherrilyn’s. That’s when the Red Cross went from an organization responding to some distant disaster to a person holding her hand and telling her everything was going to be OK.
“Everybody knows about the Red Cross assisting in disasters and blood drives, but the first-hand experience opened my eyes to what the Red Cross can do for one person, for a family,” she said.
“I never forgot that. I promised myself that if I could do that for someone else, then I would have accomplished something,” Sherrilyn said. “It was a small thing, but it brought me to tears. It still does when I think about it.”
Sherrilyn joined the Red Cross in 2017 and recently stepped forward as the interim disaster program specialist while a staff member deploys with the military.
Sherrilyn and her husband are emergency response vehicle drivers, and Sherrilyn is a driver instructor.
She’s also volunteered in engagement, onboarding and placement, and disaster response.
The best part of her time as a Red Cross volunteer has been providing comfort and putting a smile back on someone’s face in their times of trouble.
“When I’m there as a responder and I can leave a person in a better place emotionally, it’s hard to describe how much that means,” she said. “What I got from the Red Cross was hope. I got kindness and a sense of love, and that’s what I strive to give back.
Sherrilyn responded to several disasters, among them September’s BobCat wildfire outside of Roundup, the 2017 Rice Ridge fire near Seeley Lake, two fires near Eureka the same year, and the big hailstorm that hit Shepherd in 2019.
She brings to a disaster response a deep empathy and understanding.
“I really know better what they’re really feeling — the loss, the fear and the confusion — because I felt all of those things right after the fire,” she said. “When somebody sits there and says I’ve lost everything. Well, all we had were the clothes on our backs, too.”
Sherrilyn has worked on ranches and in the medical field and retired out of the HIPPA compliance and medical records department. She’s excited to experience this new role and expects to be in the position through October.
“Being a volunteer is much different than being an employee, but so far it’s been a good fit,” she said.