Heroes are sometimes young teenagers
By BILL DUNCAN
The View From Here
This column today, just a few days into 2008, is about heroes. Probably not the kind you expect to be reported in a newspaper, but never the less, heroes in my mind, along with hundreds of other heroes you’d expect to be recognized in print — the veterans of many wars.
My heroes today, are the young men and women who serve those who served. The ones I am singling out just happen to be teenagers in Douglas County, Oregon who gave up leisure time in their summer, and sometimes all year long, to volunteer in the American Red Cross youth program at the Roseburg Veteran’s Hospital.
The program started in 1977 under the guidance of the late Wanda McLean, national representative of the Red Cross on the hospital campus. She organized a group of young people to help address Christmas cards for the hospitalized veterans. From that meager beginning came a program that grew year after year.
When Wanda died in July 2003, I was her deputy representative at the VA and I was appointed to the national post. In that role I took over the youth program, but I never have been able to fully fill her shoes.
I did create an award, sanctioned by the Red Cross, to honor Wanda for her years of service to veterans, a service recognized by the American Red Cross that named her the Volunteer of the Year for the entire American Red Cross shortly before her death in 2003. The Wanda McLean Memorial Clara Barton award for the youth volunteer who gave the most hours to the program began in 2006.
This year’s award was presented to two youth volunteers, a boy and a girl. The boy, Mason R. Dunn has since moved to Fresno, Calif. where he continues to volunteer at a VA hospital there. He gave 695 hours to the veterans at Roseburg.
Kayla M. Tuttle of Roseburg was the other recipient with 186 hours given to the veterans. Two other outstanding awards for an amazing number of hours in service to veterans went to Bryson S. Lee of Sutherlin who gave 150 hours and to Matthew L. Richie of Roseburg who chalked up 144 hours. Three other youth volunteers exceeded 100 hours, Brittany Tice with 131 hours, Kyle Lewis of Oakland with 111 hours and Charles Wilson of Winston with 105 hours.
Regardless of how many hours these young people contributed, they are all heroes to me, as a veteran, and I am sure those who are hospitalized at Roseburg.
Wanda McLean was a disaster victim back in the 1970s when we had a continuous rainstorm flooded much of Douglas County. Wanda lived alone in a rural area that was on a septic system in which effluent was pumped uphill to a drain field. The flooding overworked the pump and it burned out. As manager of the Douglas County Chapter of the Red Cross at that time, I was helping those flood victims under the Red Cross disaster program and issued Wanda disaster voucher for $386 to purchase a new pump. A month or so after the rains, Wanda showed up at my office asking how she was to pay back this money. I told her it was a gift of the American people. She adamantly said she didn’t accept charity.
I just as adamantly said there was no way for her to pay back the money, so why didn’t she volunteer.
She did and was assigned to the VA hospital. She became the best $386 the Red Cross ever spent. One of her most notable contributions was the Youth Program at the VA which last year included 40 young people.
As the National Representative for the American Red Cross at the Roseburg VA, I am proud of each of the youth volunteers for giving their time to serve those who served. On behalf of the staff at the VA and the veterans, I say "job well done."
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470)