In 1998, Denise Teasdell's sister was tragically killed in a car accident while Denise was on active duty with the Navy in Hawaii. To notify her and help get her home, the Red Cross Hero Care Network sent Denise an emergency message.
At the time, Denise thought she would need to pay the Red Cross back for the plane tickets they helped secure, even writing in her journal, "I'm glad they helped me get home because I did not even have enough money to get down...this seems so unreal. I wonder if I have to give the Red Cross money for the ticket. I don't know how I can repay them, maybe payments."
However, that is never the case. All aid from the Red Cross is free.
Denise did end up paying it forward in another way — by working at the Red Cross as a Service to the Armed Forces director in South Carolina. She works with our Hero Care Network, the same service that helped her, to send service members emergency communications.
"Making sure they can get home to be with family is the mos...
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