National Volunteer Week, April 15-21, is a time to celebrate individuals creating positive change in their communities. The American Red Cross is another one of our 2012 National Volunteer Week nonprofit honorees who unite individuals through service to demonstrate a collective spirit through partnerships to help strengthen communities across the nation.

Today's post is written by Jim Starr, vice president, Volunteer Management, who is responsible for implementing American Red Cross volunteer strategy and supporting volunteer and youth issues and programs.

Last year the American Red Cross provided food, shelter, comfort and hope to families affected by nearly 70,000 disasters. Literally, we couldn’t have done it without our volunteers. When you see a team of Red Crossers responding to a disaster, that team will probably have more than 15 volunteers for every paid staffer, serving at all levels of the operation.

Thousands of trained Red Cross disaster volunteers are part of Ready When the Time Comes, an incredible program that national founding sponsor W. W. Grainger, Inc. helped us get started a decade ago. The idea is for employees of the nearly 500 partnering companies and organizations to get trained as Red Cross disaster volunteers so they are ready to serve in their own communities and beyond in an emergency.

The idea is really catching on. Over the past two years, the number of trained volunteers has doubled and the program has been established in all critical disaster zones across the country.

Teams respond to emergencies in their own communities, and because all but a handful of disasters are local, that service is invaluable. At the Red Cross, we strive to build resiliency in every community we touch. A cadre of trained disaster volunteers that live within the community and with whom people do business every day helps a neighborhood get back to some kind of normal.

Ready When the Time Comes volunteers also leave their homes and businesses to help during major widespread disasters. Last year members of the Ready Team of Jet Blue Airways employees, for example, were among Red Cross volunteers responding to floods in Bismarck, North Dakota, and to Hurricane Irene in Binghamton, New York.

Jet Blue Ready Team lead Athena Amideneau likes to talk about how the program is growing—the 500^th member recently signed up, and there are another 100 people in Boston who want to be trained in April. “No matter what the experience, whether the volunteers sleep in dormitories or on shelter cots, they come back saying ‘I’ve never felt better about myself; when can I go back?’” says Amideneau.

The satisfaction of giving is echoed by Hewitt Associates employee Angie Sciortino, who says, “Participating in the Ready When the Time Comes program has been more rewarding than I ever imagined.” As a Red Cross volunteer, Sciortino finds herself helping families affected by fire, and visiting homes to make sure they are fire-safe.

When disaster strikes, the American people depend on the American Red Cross. And the American Red Cross depends on the power of volunteers, including Ready When the Time Comes volunteers from corporate America. They truly are ready when the time comes.

If your company or organization is interested in becoming a part of the Red Cross mission in your community, contact your local Red Cross.