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Kalispell, MT - - Over the course of her life, theater actress Toni Wells has played a good many roles. Whether out east in summer-stock productions, or as fated player in a 1950s Japanese monster film, her range has been immense.
But it's been her role as a 70-year-long volunteer for the American Red Cross that has taken center stage.
As part of "American Red Cross National Volunteer Week: Celebrating People in Action" (April 19 - 26) Toni Wells is available to tell her story of seven decades of service to a single organization.
Wells graduated high school at 17 and made her first connection with the American Red Cross as a water-safety instructor. Later stationed overseas, she helped service men connect with family - both on the tiny island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, and in Japan - as part of the 'Service to Military' program, now known as 'Service to Armed Forces'.
"In the Japanese language, there is no word for 'volunteer'," said Wells. "In order to describe in print what we, and several local Japanese people, were doing there, the nearest translation I could come up with was 'helping hand'."
From 1966 on, until 1985, Wells volunteered in service to the American Red Cross of Montana, but before and after was cast in many roles overseas - working with service personnel on bases where her husband was stationed, or in various disaster appointments, helping others recover their lives.
From hurricanes, to floods and evacuation zones, Wells has seen many other disasters over the years, setting up service centers for family assistance, and visiting homes at disaster sites to assess devastation and help plan recovery.
In 1969, she worked with victims of Hurricane Camille, and wrote a series of letters about resident life in the disaster zone - many of which were published by the Daily Interlake Newspaper. In the 1980s, she was named in print by the Missoulian Newspaper for her role in volunteerism.
At 87, Wells can't recall the number of lives touched over the course of 70 years, but says it's the indelible mark volunteering has left on her own life that make up the stories of her life.
"It's just a very mind-broadening experience, and the farthest thing from boredom," she says. "And you make friendships in areas your life wouldn't normally take you."
Like Wells, American Red Cross of Montana volunteers come from all walks of life, and constitute 98 percent of the organization's workforce. Whether they are adults, students, teens or retirees, they help the American Red Cross achieve its mission by providing staff for critical programs that meet a variety of community needs across Montana.
The American Red Cross of Montana meets community need in more than one area--from disaster response to health and safety classes to support of the military community, volunteers are the lifeblood of an organization established almost 130 years ago in 1881.
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