Get to Know: Deneen Cooper

Deneen Cooper
Business Capacity Development Manager
(Former Volunteer)

Roles: Promoting Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) purchases; increasing volunteers and volunteer participation; promoting new 2-year certification for CPR/First Aid

Hobbies: Studying for Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution Management; spending time with her family

During the summer of 1994, Deneen Cooper received a phone call that started her interest in life-saving training. Her grandfather, who lives seven miles from Hodgenville, KY, was experiencing a heart attack. The nearest hospital was 25 miles away in Elizabethtown. To Deneen’s family, it felt like an eternity before the ambulance arrived, but they busied themselves by keeping her grandfather calm and gathering his medications.

“It was like total chaos,” Deneen said, “but everybody took a piece of it, and we made it work.” During the emergency, the family did not have to perform CPR, but they took the experience as a life lesson.

“Within the month we had a CPR class at church,” she said. “I told my Dad, ‘If you’ll go with me, somebody needs to know what to do next time.’”

Soon after the experience, Deneen started volunteering as a Heath & Safety instructor. Now, 14 years later, she has also served as Health & Safety Coordinator in Elizabethtown and Chapter Executive in Bowling Green. Her present position in Louisville focuses on training individuals in the workplace. She builds relationships with current and potential customers and shows them that the Red Cross is a “one-stop shop” for their training needs.

In 2001 her sales pitch became a best practice at Red Cross national headquarters. That year, she received the Marjorie Jordan Employee of the Year Award. While Deneen is proud of the award, she considers her greatest accomplishment to be getting the Red Cross vision and message out to the community.

If you or someone you know is interested in receiving life-saving training for the individual or workplace, call 502-561-3605.

LAC volunteers donate 90K+ hours in 2010

For more than 30 years, Red Cross workers have set up seating at the Pegasus parade for 450 elderly persons and people with disabilities who may not otherwise get to enjoy the event.

Each year the Independent Sector assigns an estimated dollar value to an hour of volunteer time. For 2010, the estimated value was $21.36, meaning that volunteers at the Louisville Area Chapter spent nearly $2 million worth of time giving back to their community.

Whether they are responding to a house fire at 3 a.m. or teaching a life-saving health and safety course at 3 p.m., volunteers are an invaluable component of the Red Cross organization. They dedicate their time and efforts to helping the community prepare for and respond to emergencies.

April is National Volunteer Month, and the Louisville Area Chapter gives thanks to all volunteers for their dedication to the Red Cross mission. Check in throughout the month of April, as we pay tribute to a few of our extraordinary volunteers.