The Power of One

Yesterday, Nate Lare and I had the pleasure of attending the Hometown Heroes event at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, as guests of the Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, Mr. Rick Lee.

Mr. Lee, along with several other community leaders and experts in emergency and disaster preparedness,  have spoken this semester in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class at the Isenberg School. I recognized them in a Guest Editorial that I wrote and that was recently published on masslive.com.

The Hometown Heroes event was truly inspiring with about 600 in attendance!

Eleven area residents were recognized by the Red Cross for "selfless acts of courage." A nice photo of these extraordinary individuals, including teenagers appears on masslive.com. Their acts, whether by giving blood hundreds of times, starting a sports program for disabled children, or, in the case of several individuals,  saving lives after accidents, fires, or health incidents, are exceptional!

I took the photos below at the event yesterday and commend the Red Cross for all that it does! Mr. Rick Lee announced at this event, at which he also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Red Cross for his 30 years of extraordinary service, that he will retire as of this August. Who will replace him?

The ending video to the theme and music of The Power of One was especially moving with many in the audience tearing up. It featured such extraordinary women as Clara Barton, Rosa Parks, and Anne Frank, with a segment on Mr. Rick Lee (which was a complete surprise to him). What a difference he has made through his work ethic, integrity, energy, and the building of powerful friendships and relationships. Who can say no to this amazing man!

So if, at times, you feel that you are all alone, know that you can, as the above individuals have, and the Hometown Heroes, as well, through The Power of One,  make a big difference. You can provide your students, colleagues, neighbors, and even strangers with a helping hand, a kind word, spiritual and physical sustenance, a smile, a token of appreciation, a congratulatory note, a conversation. Perhaps, through additional actions, research, writings, and a book you might even change the world! Never lose the courage to do what is right.

And, since, regrettably, the photo of  Mr. Rick Lee, Nate and me together at the event did not come out, I repost the photo taken of Mr. Rick Lee when he spoke to the students in my class this past February.

Nate is on the far left. And, to emphasize the amazing students in our Operations & Information Management program at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst that I am privileged to teach, Nate was a Hometown Hero in 2011 -- simply awesome! Nate alerted residents when a fire gutted their apartment complex.

Although this year's closing video is not online yet, I urge you to view last year's, which includes images of Clara Barton, Rosa Parks, and Anne Frank:

Hometown Heroes and Why I Wrote a Guest Editorial

Tomorrow morning, one of my Operations & Information Management students, who is in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class that I am teaching this semester, will be attending with me the Hometown Heroes event at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, MA.

We will be the guests of Mr. Rick Lee, the Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, who spoke in my class in February.

The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross provides emergency response in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties in western Massachusetts and is also behind a model call center for servicemen.

According to a lovely article in The Springfield Republican: The chapter created the Hometown Heroes program in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Lee said. The idea was partially to help bridge gaps in funding left when so much charitable giving went to causes related to those attacks.
But the larger reason was, and remains, giving the community a way to honor people who go above and beyond to help others.

And in the beautiful words of Mr. Rick Lee:
"We are celebrating one of the most beautiful aspects of the human heart, which is kindness," Lee said.

This year 9 Hometown Heroes will be honored.

In addition to Mr. Rick Lee, this semester, we have hosted Mr. Jeff Hescock of UMass Amherst, Dr. Pierre Rouzier of UHS at UMass Amherst, Mr. Dave Madsen of WGGB, and even the other Dr. Nagurney, my husband, who gave a guest lecture on Disaster Communications.  The students and I were so inspired by these remarkable individuals that I wrote a Guest Editorial, Community Experts Enhance Disaster Management Education as Guest Speakers at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass,  about their talks (with the exception of my husband's since he was guest lecturing when I was out of town), which was published the other day on masslive.com.

I had to thank these very special people in a public way and that is why I wrote the Guest Editorial, which also features a photo of Mr. Rick Lee with the students in my class.

In addition, the Isenberg School of Management posted a two-part series on this course focusing on the presentation of Dr. Rouzier and also that of Mr. Madsen. Many thanks to the Communications Department and especially to Mr. Lou Wigdor who attended these lectures and wrote them up so eloquently.

We have amazing people in our midst, which deserve special honors and recognition and among those I include the above individuals.

We look forward to seeing Mr. Lee of the Red Cross again tomorrow and honoring this year's Hometown Heroes for their exceptional courage!  Even two UPS drivers will be honored (perfect humanitarian logistics example!)