By John Rose

Originally hailing from northern Montana, Rebecca Ginn built a career and a life around service to others. As a full-time nurse and a key volunteer within the American Red Cross’ Disaster Health Services, she operates at the intersection of philanthropic logistics and human empathy.

Volunteering with the American Red Cross’ Heart of Tennessee Chapter, Rebecca serves as the Interim Regional Program Lead for the Disaster Health Services Team. Right now, she is deployed on the virtual teams for Hurricane Helene/Milton and the Southern California Wildfires. She is also part of the Integrated Condolence Care Team (ICCT) and Family Travel Assistance Program (FTAP), a highly specialized role focused on caring for families who lose loved ones during largescale disasters. In this capacity, she helps arrange travel, coordinate funeral logistics and provide emotional support to people suffering tragic losses. Her ability to navigate this difficult terrain stems from both her professional background as a lifelong nurse and her own personal experiences.

Rebecca’s motivation to volunteer started when her father, a U.S. Marine who served for 22 years, was brought home from overseas by the American Red Cross when his grandfather, who raised him, was passing away. "That was the first time I remember hearing of the Red Cross," said Rebecca. She later moved to Tennessee and began volunteering with the Red Cross in 2016 at the behest of national nursing leadership, who recognized her potential to help even more people. She recalls a pivotal moment at the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington D.C., when she was awarded a nursing pin by Chief Nurse Linda MacIntyre and encouraged to become a local volunteer.

Rebecca quickly distinguished herself in the field working with the Disaster Action Team (DAT) in Memphis. She handled complex disaster response operations, including coordinating care following a bus crash that left 26 victims in five separate emergency rooms across the Mid-South. She also helped staff shelters when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S. at the same time tornados struck East Nashville.

As a member of the ICCT and FTAP, Rebecca’s work often begins with a phone call, sometimes after a crisis has come and gone. Following a loss, families are thrust into a very unfamiliar bureaucratic process, forced to navigate death certificates, insurance claims, and other legal hurdles all while experiencing profound grief. Rebecca supports them as both a logistical partner and as a human anchor during what is often the most difficult period of their lives.

"I become a compassionate resource," said Rebecca. “I understand that grief is not linear – that it is cyclical – and people are looking to [these families] to make decisions about things they never thought they would have to decide.”

Rebecca’s ability to connect with the people she supports is, in part, rooted in her own experiences with loss. She describes grief as being “like a color you’ve never seen [before]” and theorizes it can be difficult to help others get through it when one cannot first empathize with that perspective. “It’s about being patient, being accepting, and doing a lot more listening than talking,” said Rebecca. “Not that my experience [is like] anyone else's; but I have seen some of these colors, so I can help them navigate it.”

Rebecca recounted a case last year that involved a married couple in the wake of Hurricane Helene. After struggling to evacuate from their neighborhood, the husband tragically passed away from complications linked to floodwater exposure. After the American Red Cross was notified of the husband’s passing, Rebecca reached out to the surviving wife. “I worked to build trust with her […] and did a lot of listening,” said Rebecca. “And then she was able to return to her home and navigate what life is like now that the waters have receded […] and all the helpers are back to helping others.”

Rebecca aided many others who lost family members and homes to the hurricane, including the family of a young man from El Salvador who passed away in North Carolina. “[We] helped fly [his family] from El Salvador to the States and then return with his body, so it could be taken to his village, and he could be interned with his people,” said Rebecca, who is very familiar with the many complicating factors that prevent people from returning home or laying lost loved ones to rest after disasters. Homes are left uninhabitable, hotels are either full or shut down, and even necessities like clean drinking water could be unavailable. “This program [FTAP] provided an especially humanitarian approach to these tragic losses.”

Rebecca’s work with the American Red Cross to transform others’ lives has, in turn, shaped her own life in profound ways. "I’ve never regretted the human contribution of my time, talents, and professional skills," said Rebecca. "Not once have I ever thought, 'This was a bad way to spend the day.' […] It has expanded my ability to love and understand."

Rebecca's service is a reminder of the impact any one person can have as a volunteer – not only in times of crisis, but also during the often-overlooked recoveries that last long after the storm has passed. “I think that our ability and our capacity to love as a community is greater than any individual,” said Rebecca. “And I think that when we do things together, we [become] better versions of ourselves.”