By Volunteer Lina Estrada

Francisco Rodriguez is a force to be reckoned with. Standing almost six feet tall, wearing a black fleece and baseball cap, his smile brimming with happiness, he has a kind of peace that is almost Zen-like. “He’s one of our best volunteers,” another volunteer tells me as she begins to relate a list of the volunteer assignments that he’s undertaken. “He volunteers as a member of the Disaster Action Team in New Jersey, and also deploys as a disaster worker to other parts of the United States, in the moments following a crisis,” she says. And I must admit, the list of his achievements is quite impressive. How many people do you come across in real life that drop everything to go assist hundreds when a hurricane or tornado ravishes half a state? Not many. 

But Francisco isn’t just any volunteer. Francisco is a well-known face and voice amongst the disaster volunteers in New Jersey. A smile on his face and lightheartedness in his tone, he’s another American Red Cross volunteer who's always ready for action. He began his track as a volunteer disaster worker, but he’s one who has also had more than a decade of experience helping others. 

_{“People see the Red Cross logo and they see a little bit of hope”}

In 2021, Francisco deployed to Texas to help out during the holidays. People were stuck in a predicament, and they were, as Francisco likes to put it, “very polite,” at being able to be helped. Francisco employed one of his many skills to assist in a difficult situation: his bilingual language skills. “I was the only Spanish speaker and I was working the night shift out in El Paso,” he said. “Some people only speak Spanish and it is very satisfying to be able to help them by being able to do something different.” 

But this is just one volunteer mission out of the many that Francisco has been on. Francisco continuously answers the call to assist others, out of compassion and love to help others. He’s been deployed nine times since 2021, including to the state of Mississippi where disaster struck in the form of tornadoes that ravaged homes and even entire towns.

“In March of 2023, I was deployed to Mississippi where I began to help out families for a period of two weeks,” he said. “I was then sent back to Mississippi for a period of three months,” he said, affirming that the people who had been affected were living in hotels. “I started to help other Mississippians in June and it turns out that they were the first families that I assisted in March and I was able to see them return to their homes once more,” he said, adding “that experience was extremely satisfying.” 

If you think the holidays stop Francisco from volunteering, well try again. In December of 2023, flooding inundated towns like Paterson and Little Falls, causing many to have to evacuate their homes. Francisco was there with the Red Cross to help. “We assisted with sheltering, and delivering food and supplies to people who were affected,” Francisco explained. Not long after the flood response, Francisco was responding to home fires in towns like Union City, assisting displaced families and trying to spread some holiday cheer along the way. 

Francisco’s predisposition to be a volunteer had been forged in his childhood. “My parents have been helping people since I was a child. They always had people they were trying to help at the house. When good principles are given to you, they are given to you for life,” he says. An accent in his friendly voice, Francisco is a native of Madrid where he was born and raised. He has a college degree with which he has been able to work in the finance industry. “I double majored in college with one of those majors being in psychology from one of the universities in Spain. I have been working as a bank vice president in New York for 26 years, managing multiple departments,” he says. And although he doesn’t say it, having a degree in psychology might be helpful when working with people who are trying to cope with disaster. 

“I always love to give back,” Rodriguez says. “I have been volunteering for 12 years now, assisting the Elite Runners in the New York City Marathon, with the community food bank, and with the Red Cross. I like to give back to society,” Rodriguez says. “My favorite part about volunteering with the Red Cross is the human contact – being able to bring comfort to those who are distressed. I respond to home fires in the northern part of New Jersey or deploy nationally to assist with large disasters. You need to be able to genuinely empathize with anyone in that situation, they can feel it,” he says warmly. “People see the Red Cross logo and they see a little bit of hope,” he adds.