Hispanic Heritage Month Profile: Chanda Arnold

by Carmen Wright, volunteer contributor

N Texas Diversity Leadership Chair
Chanda Arnold

What better way to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month than to learn about Red Cross volunteers who are dedicated to making the American Red Cross as diverse as the people it serves. 

Meet Chanda Arnold. As chairperson of the North Texas Region Diversity Leadership Council, that’s exactly what she does. 

Chanda joined the Red Cross as a disaster relief volunteer about seven years ago. She became involved with the Diversity Council because she wanted to see a more diverse group of volunteers and wanted to raise awareness of the variety of people who work and volunteer with the Red Cross. 

“Disaster doesn’t strike a certain color—it affects everybody. Because we help a diverse group of people, it’s important to have volunteers in place who can relate to them,” she says. 

While the Diversity Leadership Council meets to discuss supplies, emergency services and volunteer roles, and works closely with different Affinity groups such as the Latino Affinity Group, it also teaches its members about understanding and empathizing with different types people. As part of an ongoing lecture series, the council invites a guest speaker every quarter to discuss topics ranging from disabilities to census information on the Hispanic population in the North Texas region. 

Chanda recalls one meeting in which the council members had to navigate through a room blindfolded to better understand the blind. She is also excited about the prospects of having a deaf volunteer join the council because she knows it will make the work Red Cross does that much better. 

Thank you, Chanda for the work you do and for reminding us to celebrate diversity in all its different forms! 

To begin your Red Cross story, join today at www.redcross.org/dfw. 

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