Join us in celebrating Rick Booth for being nominated for the Humanitarian Services Presidential Award and being the first person from our region to have their nomination advanced to the National Level! We held an awards ceremony at our Salem Red Cross office on Wednesday of this past week and had a great time celebrating Rick. 🎉 

On numerous occasions, Rick travelled 3+ hours (each way) to build a relationship with Kingsley Airbase and the US Coast Guard. After years of little to no partnership with these units, Rick’s dedication to being in-person for meetings and events has inspired a new strategic partnership with both entities and generated new partnership opportunities. In just one year,  Rick dedicated over 1,200 hours to the Red Cross demonstrating his true passion to support the Red Cross mission.

On Wednesday, Booth accepted his award and gave a selfless speech that moved the room to tears. "It works because we work together" Booth says referring to his fellow volunteers and leads Meghan Hahn and Jessica Pomeroy. He also took the time to appreciate his spouse, Sue Booth. As he chocked back tears he said, "I did deploy to Tampa this year, over my 50th anniversary because that's when I was called. She supported me and that's just the kind of backing we get as people doing this". After the award was given to Rick, Meghan Hahn gave Sue a bouquet of flowers to thank her for her unwavering support 💐