Red Cross volunteer has made a difference for 40 years

From her time as a "Donut Dolly" in Vietnam to teaching swimming to kids with autism in Colorado Springs 40 years later, Deborah Griffith MacSwain says her life has been shaped by service with the Red Cross.

She's worked in Somalia, Germany, Japan, Hawaii, Florida and Washington, D.C. She's handed out bottles of water after hurricanes, taught classes, secured grants for needy youth, volunteered as the interim CEO of the chapter in El Paso, Texas, rode helicopters through southeast Asia, and managed the deployment of volunteers to war zones in the Middle East.

"When you hand a bottle of water to a child outside a Red Cross vehicle and they look at you with big eyes and say ‘thank you,' you know that you're making a difference for that moment in time," MacSwain, 62, said. "If I were to die tomorrow, I'd say I'd had one heck of a great ride."

MacSwain - who is on the board of directors of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the American Red Cross and the volunteer chair of financial development, besides her time in the pool - is now helping the local chapter pull together its 95-year history.

She's combed through scrapbooks and old newspaper articles to dig up some gems about the chapter's founding in 1914, response to the 1935 Monument Creek Flood, and the 850 Red Cross volunteers who lent help after the 2002 Hayman Fire.

Despite her globe trotting, MacSwain's emotional ties are here. She graduated from Wasson High School, went to college at the University of Northern Colorado, and her first real job sent her off to Vietnam in 1969 as one of four local women who were Donut Dollies.

"Our job was to bring a little bit of home to the troops and take their minds off what they were doing for an hour a week," MacSwain said. Even though the duty was putting together a lighthearted variety show, the context was heavy. Five Donut Dollies died in Vietnam.

"That experience for me, it really defined my whole personality. We saw all the effects of war, we were there, we were part of it," she said.

After she married an Army soldier in the 1970s, MacSwain moved every few years. She worked or volunteered for the Red Cross, or both, at every stop along the way. And she returned to Colorado Springs to stay in 1996.

"Debby is one of our most valuable volunteers," said David Just, CEO of the Pikes Peak Chapter. "With her wealth of knowledge and creative perspective, Debby is a constant source of information, ideas and inspiration."

MacSwain said when she talks to other volunteers and asks them why they work with the Red Cross, she always receives the same answer that motivates her: "Because I like to help people. Once it's in your blood, that's it."

March is National Red Cross Month

"People sometimes think that the Red Cross is a government program, which it's not," MacSwain said. "They think it's always been here and will always be here."

The programs of the American Red Cross include:
1. Blood collection. The Red Cross collects about half the blood donated in the United States.
2. Service to military families. Emergency communications between troops and families. Help families back home with emergencies or even day-to-day needs.
3. Disaster relief. Locally, help victims of fire with shelter, food and clothing. Send money and volunteers to sites of national and international disasters. Disaster preparation and prevention, for situations such as wildfires.
4. Health and safety courses. In first aid and CPR training especially, Red Cross has become a standard. They also offer courses in swimming, babysitting and many more.

Highlights from Deborah Griffith MacSwain's timeline of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the Red Cross

1914: Organized on Sept. 4, one of only 145 chapters nationwide. According to a Gazette article at the time, the Pikes Peak Chapter "stirred itself into activity when war with Germany began to loom."
1917: Community raised more than $200,000 for the Red Cross War Campaign effort. Campaign led by Spencer Penrose, who donated $30,000.
1935: Monument Creek Flood on Memorial Day kills two and damages 365 homes. The Red Cross operated a food kitchen and an emergency hospital, and helped rebuild homes and provide furniture and supplies. The Red Cross spent $75,000 ($30,000 raised locally) in the first large natural disaster it responded to in the Colorado Springs area.
1937: After three children drowned in Prospect Lake in separate incidents, the Red Cross campaigned for better lifesaving equipment, more lifeguards and restricting swimming in certain areas.
World War II years: So many nurses left for military duty, that nurse Helen O'Donnell started a volunteer nurse aid program. She trained nurse aids at the Red Cross and they volunteered in area hospitals.
1950: Red Cross volunteers provide 24/7 canteen service to the firefighters facing the Fort Carson fire, known as Operation Blaze Battle, that threatened the area from Fort Carson to The Broadmoor hotel.
1958: First local Red Cross first aid course held at the Air Force Academy, and Red Cross first aid volunteers man the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
1985: Red Cross founds a homeless shelter, later called the Montgomery Shelter. The shelter was turned over to the Salvation Army in 2004.
2001: After Sept. 11, more than 20 local Red Cross volunteers went to New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C. to provide disaster relief and mental health counseling.
2002: The Red Cross mobilizes 850 volunteers to help out during and after the Hayman Fire.
2005: Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma brought more than 2,500 refugees to Colorado Springs, and the Pikes Peak Chapter spent more than $500,000 locally to help those families.