Jeanne Sheehan embodies a "true Red Cross heat through her gifts of money, time and blood.

Friday, September 01, 2000

Jeanne Sheehan embodies a "true Red Cross heat through her gifts of money, time and blood."

That’s how the Mower County chapter of the American Red Cross Volunteer of the Year is described by Elaine Hansen.

The executive director of the Mower County chapter presented Sheehan with the award at the annual banquet of the organization last week at Corcoran Center at St. Edward’s Catholic Church in Austin.

"The 2000 Volunteer of the Year embodies the essence of volunteerism," Hansen said. "Whether at work or play, the Red Cross always seems to be in a corner of her mind.

"She never missed a chance to promote all of our programs and services. Her resourcefulness is invaluable to the chapter and her ‘can-do’ attitude makes her an outstanding volunteer."

The volunteer was surprised to receive the award.

"I was completely shocked when they announced my name," Sheehan said. "I served on the chapter’s awards committee and thought we had a truly outstanding volunteer to receive the honor. Then, they announced it was going to a ‘working mother’ and that didn’t match up with the other candidate’s description, so when they announced my name, it was a genuine surprise."

Sheehan serves on the chapter’s volunteer services committee as well as various other ad hoc committees.

She has taken training in many areas, including Armed Forces Emergency Services, fund-raising and leadership, served on the chapter’s board of directors and as chairman of the board and is a National Red Cross instructor for 44 different modules of human resource training.

She is the chair-elect for the State Service Council and also services on several state committees of the Red Cross organization.

She’s all this and a wife, homemaker, mother and the executive director of the Austin Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

And this human dynamo is a humble honoree.

"We have so many good volunteers, literally hundreds of volunteers who could have received the award, so this is truly an honor," she said.

Sheehan said the Mower County chapter enjoys a healthy reputation among the Red Cross in Minnesota, as well as nationally, because it does so much with so few paid staff.

Carrie Grunewald, an Austin High School student, is an example, according to Sheehan. The teen-ager is the only youth to serve on the state service council of which Sheehan is the chair-elect through May 2001.

Sheehan herself was introduced to the Red Cross when she took swimming lessons and CPR training as a youth in St. Joseph, Mo.

She became a member of the Mower County chapter when she was marketing manager at OakPark Mall in Austin and Debbie Vorpahl, a former Red Cross executive director, invited her to join.

It has been a public service marriage that has been nurtured through the years.

Sheehan said everyone can be proud of the Mower County chapter, because of the volunteers it attracts and the jobs they do for others.

Sheehan is one of six local members to be chosen for the national instruction in leadership skills.

But, Sheehan, the volunteer, also said that nurturing and development of volunteers is necessary in order to achieve the organization’s mission: We’ll be there.

"I think the Mower County chapter helps itself with the training opportunities they offer volunteers who want to expand their Red Cross experiences," she said.

That formula worked for the Mower County chapter’s Volunteer of the Year.