Community super volunteers Michelle Robinson Williams of Mexico, Lou Marin of Rumford and Shannon Glover of Rumford have formed Oxford County’s first Red Cross team. Bruce Farrin photo

After the flood in December 2023 devastated sections of Rumford and Mexico, first responders and volunteers worked diligently to assist people most affected by the damage.

Three community service activists — Shannon Glover and Lou Marin of Rumford, and Michelle Robinson Williams of Mexico — witnessed families and merchants struggling to get back to normal. As a result, Glover said these three friends and community leaders have formed Oxford County’s first Red Cross team, ready to assist when needed.

Who are they?

First, a little background on these community good Samaritans.

Shannon Glover: A Red Cross member for five years, Glover is active with the Good Samaritan Soup Kitchen, Parish of the Holy Savior, the community cleanup, junior volunteers, and Red Cross. She is founder of the Bumpas Wood Bank and serves with the American Legion and River Valley Rotary Club.

For the Red Cross, she is a community volunteer lead, blood ambassador, disaster action team member, and is a Red Cross Ready Instructor.

“I work directly with the executive director in Washington in identifying the needs of the River Valley and working on bringing in pilot programs to our community,” she said. “The process is a lot of online training, as well as some in-person training. I mainly serve in the River Valley as I am passionate about the community we live in.”

Lou Marin: Marin has been a Red Cross member for 18 months. “I have been helped by many people throughout my life and have worked and volunteered with Shannon Glover for a few years. Then I found out she was a Red Cross volunteer, an organization I have supported for many years during my military career, and ever since.”

He said the process to become a fully trained Red Cross volunteer includes a lot of online and in-person training, as well as several “ride-alongs” with qualified personnel. “Although I have great personal caring for those in our local communities, I am able to work or deploy anywhere in the United States.”

“I have done community smoke alarm installations in various places in Maine, and have responded to several post fire Disaster Action Team responses,” he said, “as well as joining Shannon on a tour of Oxford County firehouses to explain to emergency personnel who they call and talk to in a Red Cross-required response, and how the Services to the Armed Forces program works.”

Through the program, Marin said, he has been a representative on seven separate occasions throughout Maine at different veterans’ service gatherings to share the Red Cross’ message, and has interviewed four military veterans to assist with archiving their stories in the Library of Congress.

Marin volunteers weekly at the Old School Food Pantry and occasionally with the Good Samaritan Soup Kitchen. He has many titles with the American Legion, at the local, district, and state levels. He cholds, or is working toward, multiple positions in the American Red Cross.

Michelle Robinson Williams: Williams is founder and organizer of Mexico Good Samaritan Soup Kitchen. “This is a place in the River Valley I opened November of 2023 to help with the recognized food insecurity in the Valley and provide a safe space for community outreach programs to come in and also help.”

She is also a member in good standing with Order of Eastern Star in Mexico, member of American Legion Auxiliary Post 24 in Rumford and member of The Apostolic Church in Mexico.

“All aspects of my life and things I am associated with work around a common goal of helping anyone who may need a hand up, not a hand out,” Williams said.

“Red Cross has always been an interested organization I have wanted to be associated with because of the collaborative efforts to make the most tragic events in a person’s life a little bit better by empathy and compassion handed to them from volunteers,” she said.

Williams said life, family and children happened, which put Red Cross on a back burner for a while. However, after the flood in the valley “and seeing the devastation a lot of our population had to deal with, my mind got to thinking about it again.”

When and why did you three agree to form a Red Cross team?

Glover said starting the team took some time. “Louie was my first recruit and he hit the training running. Then Michelle joined us in December.”

She noted, “Louie and I have worked together on a couple of outreach events. Michelle is now certified to join us as soon as a call comes in again.”

Glover said advantages to having a team is that they all bring something different to the table. For instance, Marin is not only a Disaster Action Team member but also works in the Armed Forces part of the Red Cross.

Glover said Williams is very good at cooking and organizing meals, so in an emergency she could definitely lead the shelter food service with complete confidence.

“I do think in an emergency situation the three of us could definitely work in different assigned roles. Again, we all have different strengths, which makes for a better team,” Glover said.

Williams said that like herself, Glover has been a strong woman of faith, and they connected well on many levels.

Glover served as an outreach source at the Soup Kitchen. “We spoke and so many tragic events were happening here as well as all over the nation. I decided, now was the time to help. Being retired, not having small children at home anymore and having a wonderful support system for soup kitchen in place, it was time,” Williams said.

Williams noted, “After the flood and I saw everyone come together for a common cause, it restarted interest. I spoke with Shannon and found out that when dispatched to a scene, there needs to always be two people, and a lot of circumstances she could not jump on because the area only had her. This was a perfect opportunity to jump onboard, so there’s always two in the River Valley.”

She continued, “With the valley having limited people available to back Shannon up with Red Cross, it was a no-brainer and I would be able to travel to other needs nationwide if needed because of being available. Although I’m still new to Red Cross, I have faith that I can help anytime it’s needed.”

Marin added, “I think our desire to form a cohesive team came from all three of us working together with common ambitions to help others. I think as a team, we can use our individual strengths to more effectively help those in need. I would take on any role asked, to assure things go smoothly!”

There has been talk about maybe having a Junior Red Cross team in the future. What would that involve?

“I am the one that would be starting the Junior Red Cross team,” Glover said. “The last year, I’ve been talking to a lot of our younger generation about all the different aspects of the Red Cross. We currently have two teenagers who have already started training and can tag along on certain events we do.”

She added, “In order to put the team into the school, we would need to find a teacher that was willing to facilitate it along with us and the children.”

“I am a firm believer in getting younger people involved in volunteering and helping others,” Marin noted, “as I believe they are the future. And as in other organizations, many Red Cross volunteers are in their 60s and older.”

He believes Glover has spoken at various local schools and civic events to sound out parents whose children may be interested in the team. “The Red Cross has different criteria for the tasks people under 18 can perform, but we have worked with youths already who help out with various functions at blood drives.”