Heidi Luaifua arrived early in the week to attend her son Josiah’s graduation from basic combat training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. The family had been in limited contact with their soldier while he was in training and will send him off in a few weeks to his Advanced Individual Training station in Mississippi to study carpentry and masonry, so any breaks are precious. For such a special occasion, the Luaifuas braved the Oklahoma winter winds and an ocean-spanning flight from their home in Hawaii.

When they arrived at Fort Sill, they were greeted warmly by someone who had become one of their closest friends throughout their son’s enlistment: Petra Yahn, Red Cross volunteer partner to the Service to the Armed Forces program manager and casework leader.

“When our son arrived, he was 17, the youngest of the specialists in his group. It was very hard for us, but words cannot express how thankful I was to Petra from Red Cross. Wherever she goes, she snaps photos. Those first photos especially helped me transition. She took the first photos of him with no hair” Heidi said. “It’s not just a bootcamp for him, it’s a bootcamp for Mom and Dad.”

Josiah says he looks for Yahn at group events and never fails to find her in the crowd.

“In Hawaii, we call everyone ‘Auntie’—it’s a sign of respect. We would always say, ‘Oh, Auntie Petra is coming to see me.’ Her hospitality is great.”

Yahn knows firsthand what it’s like to be a military family. Her first involvement with the Red Cross was in 1998 during her husband’s deployment in Berlin, where she worked in a daycare. She was the daycare’s instructor for their required first aid and CPR courses.

Her connections deepened when their family moved to Bad Kreuznach, Germany, where she became a volunteer partner working in Red Cross disaster services and casework. In the early 2000s, Yahn made her way to Fort Sill. She worked for the Hero Care Network for over twenty years before her retirement.

Yahn is a frequent poster on one of the brigade’s Facebook family support groups. She is quick with the smartphone camera, and many of the soldiers stopped for photo ops with big smiles. As a Red Cross representative, she speaks to all incoming classes about the services the Red Cross provides to soldiers, including CPR and first aid training, and how to “know us before you need us.”

She attends the weekly graduation each Friday and is proud of her first-contact approach.

“Every once in a while, I come out at midnight when they arrive. Who needs sleep, right?” Yahn said with a grin.

“It was cool to watch other parents on the Facebook page who were having kids come in. When I was in the middle of my season, I saw other people going through their first weeks and I was able to help them too,” said Heidi.

“If a spouse or family member is home alone and lonely, I always tell them to get out and volunteer. I’m a volunteer, and I love what I’m doing,” said Yahn.

The latest opportunity for Yahn and her smiling group of volunteers was the sendoff for block leave, a three-week break for soldiers to celebrate the holidays.

On Dec. 15, soldiers arrived by cadre and were sorted into various buildings based on where they were headed for the holidays. Most departed from Dallas, but some had a shorter bus ride to Oklahoma City. Depending on their processing and arrival times, they waited for hours for their rides to the airport. Last year, it was 3:30 a.m. before everyone had departed.

Until those buses arrived, they waited. The 1,304 soldiers rested in rows of assembled chairs, played cards and chatted among themselves. Therapy dogs Hazel and Clover wandered the rows, garnering pets for themselves and eager questions for their handler, a dog trainer who volunteers with the Red Cross.

The USO table set up with treats under a giant screen where movies were projected. Yahn and her team assembled their table full of donated snacks and water for the soldiers. Volunteers encouraged them to eat and take seconds, and to pack some away in their bags for the plane ride.

Sam Austad, Red Cross volunteer and Hero Care Center employee, shuffled holiday cards at the end of the gift table while the popcorn popped. “These are my favorite ones,” she said, holding up a well-meaning scribble from an elementary school child. “We get them from a lot of schools. Sometimes we get some from a whole family. Everyone gets a card.”

Further down the table—past the granola bars and the candy, the crackers sorted into piles by cheese or peanut butter filling, and jerky being picked up as soon as it was set out—was a neat stack of handmade treats. A grateful parent has made a recurring Red Cross donation a part of their holiday traditions.

“We have a lady whose son graduated last year around this time, and when we sent out the call for donations, she sent brownies because they were her son’s favorite. This year, she sent them again. She mails them frozen from Pennsylvania, and then a volunteer picks them up and puts them back in our freezers,” said Austad.

This year, the block leave passes much more quickly. Yahn and the team are folding up tables around 6 p.m. as soldiers are dismissed one by one to the buses.

“My husband is retired, too, and for us to still have the connection to the military does me so good. Just look at these kids!” said Yahn.

“Petra is like a family member for this brigade,” said Col. Mike Stewart, commander of the 434 Field Artillery Brigade. “Our Red Cross team at Fort Sill goes out of their way to look out for us and have the opportunity to set the tone for them, wherever they go throughout the army. Wherever a soldier goes next, they have this memory.”

From the donors to the volunteers, the Red Cross helped make memories. And as soldiers jogged toward the buses in the darkening winter evening, handfuls of chip and cookie bags crinkled across the parking lots of Fort Sill.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.