Tags
American Red Cross, Karen Dudley, Red Cross, Red Cross New Hampshire, Red Cross NH, TIffany Circle, volunteer spotlight, Volunteering, Volunteers
It seems sort of fitting to introduce Karen Dudley as the focus of December’s Volunteer Spotlight, because she has shared so many of her gifts and so much of her spirit with the American Red Cross of New Hampshire and her neighbors in need throughout the region.
Karen has been a Red Cross volunteer for 13 years. She started out as a Health and Safety Instructor, and also provided administrative support to the Health and Safety Director. Since then she has worked, among other positions, as a Disaster Action Team responder, Emergency Services Chairwoman, Development Coordinator in Nashua, the interim Emergency Services Director in Nashua, and has been deployed nationally on many occasions as a Disaster Services Human Resources member, helping to manage the volunteer workforce to ensure adequate disaster response.
“I have been very blessed. My father was a fire chief when I grew up and I have always known the good works of the American Red Cross. I have a fantastic family,” Karen added, “My husband is regional board chair of the ARC and both my children were members of the NH ARC Venture Crew 911. I strongly believe in paying back good deeds.”
Karen also is part of an historic Red Cross donor group called the Tiffany Circle women. Group membership is awarded to female donors who invest $10,000 annually in their local American Red Cross chapter. The society is named for the beautiful Tiffany windows in the Board of Governors Hall at Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C. These windows, produced by the famous Tiffany Studios, were commissioned by Red Cross President Mabel Boardman in 1917. As an act of reconciliation and hope, they were paid for with a $5,000 gift from the Women’s Relief Corps of the North and $5,000 from the United Daughters of the Confederacy of the South.
The women in these windows personify virtues at work in the Red Cross Movement: hope, mercy, faith, charity, truth and fortitude. Members of the Tiffany Circle provide living examples of these virtues in their local communities, by ensuring the Red Cross has the ability to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to life’s emergencies.
Karen has upheld the traditions of this group by tirelessly supporting the American Red Cross mission, and by sharing her time and her talents to help her neighbors in need, both here in New Hampshire and throughout the region.
Volunteer Opportunities
The American Red Cross depends largely on volunteers like Karen who are trained to help prepare their communities for emergencies, teach lifesaving skills, connect families or simply lend a helping hand to their neighbors in need. In return, our volunteers receive fulfillment, enrichment, gratification and a renewed spirit of belonging and giving. To learn more about volunteer opportunities in your area, go to the American Red Cross of New Hampshire website or download the Team Red Cross app. Each year, more than a million Americans work as Red Cross volunteers. Join Team Red Cross and discover how you, too, can make a difference.
NHVT Red Cross 
Karen, you are the epitome of volunteerism. I am proud to work with you, shoulder-to-shoulder, during disasters, fundraising events, and ARC awareness programs. You have developed a legacy to follow. I am proud to call you my friend, You a shining light through the “Tiffany” glass. Thank you for all you have done to make the NH Chapter ARC so important.
Thank you Karen, for all you do and have done here at the Red Cross of NH!