Originally from Georgia, Molly Schmidt’s first exposure to the American Red Cross was during her childhood. She said she learned to swim at her local community pool and later got CPR certified with the organization.
She went on to serve with the Red Cross Movement after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, based in Bangkok, Thailand, working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Southeast Asia Regional Delegation.
“Eighteen countries were affected. It was a 10-year-long recovery effort coordinated by all kinds of agencies, Red Cross included,” Schmidt told Aloha State Daily. “It was really powerful to see neighbor helping neighbor. I was hooked with Red Cross at that point.”
She has more than 20 years of nonprofit experience. After moving to Hawaiʻi in 2019 with her family, she went on to become COO for Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi and the Regional COO of American Red Cross the Pacific Islands Region, which encompasses the state of Hawaiʻi, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and America Samoa. Schmidt was named interim CEO of the nonprofit in May and took the helm in August, overseeing 33 staff members and 2,000 volunteers in Hawaiʻi alone, she said.
She added that volunteers make up 90% of its local workforce.
“The value of the American Red Cross is in our people,” Schmidt said. “They’re providing [for] the needs and are trained in approaching people with a human aspect. They can give a blanket, but they can also give hope. They can provide a meal, but they can sit and listen to somebody who just lost everything. That compassion is essentially where we will always drive our mission and values.”
The nonprofit depends heavily on volunteers and donations from “generous individuals, corporations and foundations” to deliver its mission, she noted. According to its website, “The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families.”
In the community, Schmidt serves with the Windward Sunrise Rotary Club of Oʻahu in Kailua. She is also a member of Hawaiʻi’s Organization of Women Leaders and Troop Leader for Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi’s Troop 193.
ASD asked Schmidt about lessons-learned from local disaster response, how she personally stays prepared in case of emergency, and current and future priorities for the organization.
Looking back on the recent wildfires, tsunami and hurricane warnings, what worked well and/or what would you do differently? When we get the call from the county, we work with federal, state and county officials, in partnership with other nonprofits. And partnership is key. We can’t do everything alone, nor should we. We’re the first to respond right after the first responders. The counties will designate where the shelters will be and whatever the number is. So, we open, operate and close those shelters. That includes the logistics – the welcoming manpower, providing mental health and case managers and supplies for immediate needs. We also operate feeding with our feeding partners. It takes four volunteers to open a shelter, and we have rotations of volunteers. It’s giving those community members a safe place to be.
Last year, we responded to 120 local disasters, but 80% were single-family home fires. Those are disasters that happened to a family and don’t make the news, but American Red Cross was there. We give financial assistance and resources to help the family initiate their recovery. For us the Home Fire Campaign and October’s National Sound the Alarm Campaign, to raise awareness around the value of having working smoke alarms in your house, are really important across the Islands. The fire alarms we install are good for 10 years, no battery, no wires.
Everyone wants to be prepared, but sometimes you don’t know how to. There’s a lot of information [following the 2023] Maui wildfires around how to be prepared. We all learned some hard lessons with that. I came on during the organization’s transition from response to long-term recovery. In Maui, during the first year, we provided more than 32,000 shelter/ hotel stays and over 3 million meals and snacks, touching thousands of people’s lives. We spent $109 million in response that first year. We don’t typically stay long-term except in special cases like Maui and Los Angeles. In year two, we partnered with 14 Maui-based nonprofits that had existing boots on the ground and operations, and we supported them with another $14 million [in total] to strengthen and continue their response focused on housing, health and hunger.
We are in hurricane season from June to November. Hurricane season also means wildfire season because the winds whip up the wildfires. We are seeing twice as many disasters on a year-over-year basis now than we saw 10 years ago. It’s an alarming rate the number of disasters happening. And we will respond to every single one of them with our amazing team.
How do you practice preparedness in your personal life? I have a go bag at home, in my office and in my car because you never know where you’re going to be, right? It has a change of clothes, can of soup with a pop top, running shoes, a head lamp, pocketknife, etc.
I also have the emergency Red Cross app. You can set the location and put in different ZIP coded nationwide, so I have a set location for my family in Georgia, at my children’s schools, so I can be notified about disasters in those areas. It’s completely customizable and pushes out the information you tell it to. This is a great way to be prepared. Having those conversations in families, schools, in churches, at your workplace also make a difference.
What are your current and long-term priorities? I’ve made it a point to be present across all of the islands with our “talk story sessions,” an opportunity to connect with partners, elected officials and volunteers, to talk about the needs, listen and partner thoughtfully, strategically. Asking, ‘How can we amplify the support the communities are going to need, using resources well?’ And then hearing feedback and working to ensure we are meeting those needs.
[Other goals include recruiting more volunteers and building workforce capacity for them; increasing fundraising through awareness; bolstering existing programs like Red Cross Youth Clubs (ages 13-24), which enables youth to start civic engagement early on through service projects, and support for veteran and military families; and the Human Animal Bond (HAB) Program, which involves therapy with dogs.]
What have you been learning as a leader lately?
This job is 24/7, 365 days a year. My team can reach me at any point. So, it is important for me to have my own boundaries. I like to hike. I love nature. I play tennis. My family support is critical; we enjoy playing cards and traveling together.
The greatest things about my life have been as a mother, a wife and serving as the American Red Cross CEO. To me, it is an honor to serve in this role. I don’t feel like it’s just a job; it’s a way to serve. And everyone here – every volunteer, every staff member – is surrounded by their family support that helps people give of their heart and talents.
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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
