It was during the ethnic conflict in his native homeland of Kyrgyzstan in 2009/2010 that Nuriddin Ziyadinov experienced firsthand the power of international relief organizations.
“I was blessed to grow up in Kyrgyzstan, but during the ethnic conflict my family had to get out of the house and flee,” said Ziyadinov. “I was back home after having been a United States exchange student so I was a ‘soft target.’ I had to get to safety and to go live with my dad in Kazakhstan.”
Up until that time Ziyadinov wanted to study business but after “seeing all the work international relief organizations do it opened my eyes up,” he said.
“For me to be part of a society of givers, of volunteer workers, became a dream of mine,” said Ziyadinov.
The central Asia native returned to the United States to study at Fresno Pacific University. There he earned his bachelor’s degree in in International Relations with an emphasis in Human Rights and a minor in Business Administration. He is currently completing his master’s degree in the role of Nonprofit Organizations in Disaster relief Operations at the same university.
Ziyadinov worked as a volunteer advocate for Amnesty International in London until 2016 when he joined the American Red Cross AmeriCorps. In July 2017, Ziyadinov became the Disaster Program Manager for Red Cross managing volunteers in six counties. He was also a key player in the Red Cross 2018 Camp Fire disaster relief efforts.
“I studied human rights, and with AmeriCorps the more I learned I could not stop wanting to help people. All of that work motivated me. I want to be a voice in the community for what the humanitarians of the Red Cross can and will do when we all come together to serve one another,” said Ziyadinov.
In November 2019 Ziyadinov accepted the position of executive director for the Northern California Chapter of the Red Cross. This chapter serves 15 counties from “Colusa to the Oregon border and the Nevada state line to the Pacific Ocean,” said Ziyadinov, and serves 1.2 million California residents.
The chapter’s main office is in Yuba City but there is a small satellite office in Chico. The Yuba City office is staffed but for now, the Chico office is not staffed. It is used for volunteer meetings and supplies. Ziyadinov is working to move the Chico office to a larger space and bring in staff to support the community and local volunteers.
“We do not have a big footprint in terms of workforce and volunteers in Butte County. We need to increase the volunteer workforce in Chico, Oroville and the surrounding area. We have less than 50 volunteers in the area right now and sadly every year we have bigger and bigger disasters. We need a larger workforce of local volunteers to respond to the changing and increasing dynamics of disasters,” said Ziyadinov.
In addition to opening up a larger office and bringing on and training more volunteers, Ziyadinov is also looking for people interested in sitting on the Northern California Red Cross Chapter’s board of directors. There are currently four board members and the director would like to have at least six more members.
“The challenge is to recruit board members and volunteers with diverse backgrounds that are representative of the diverse population of the north state so that we really have neighbors helping neighbors when the time comes,” he said.
Ziyadinov and his team are also working with local government officials and emergency managers in the region to adjust protocols for volunteers, emergency shelters and other response services to keep everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team is also working on virtual training for new volunteers and assisting other Red Cross chapters and relief response groups during the crisis with food deliveries to the vulnerable in Shasta and Tehama counties and supplying Sacramento with cots and blankets for shelters.
“At the end of the day our mission to alleviate human suffering in the face of an emergency or ‘mass scare’ like the coronavirus doesn’t stop, doesn’t change. We will keep doing what we do,” he said.
Northern California Red Cross
The Yuba City office is at 2125 East Onstott Road, call 673-1460 to volunteer or for more information.
"looking" - Google News
April 25, 2020 at 05:31PM
https://ift.tt/3eQlBGL
Red Cross looking for volunteers, new director says - Chico Enterprise-Record
"looking" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2tdCiJt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Red Cross looking for volunteers, new director says - Chico Enterprise-Record"
Post a Comment