National Volunteer Week: Jenny Farley is a champion of communication and compassion

Editor’s Note: We’re profiling outstanding Red Cross volunteers throughout National Volunteer Week April 21-27. Be sure to check back daily!

Red Cross Communications Volunteer Partner Jenny Farley. Submitted photo

By Ava Arteaga

As we gather to celebrate National Volunteer Appreciation Week, we are thrilled to turn the spotlight onto someone truly special: Jenny Farley. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Jenny yet, allow us to introduce you!

Jenny is a Communications volunteer who brings a wealth of experience and expertise, drawing from her background as a CNN news producer and education from the University of Florida. In one of Jenny’s standout achievements with the Red Cross, she served as a story producer with the national photography team during Sound the Alarm in Philadelphia.

But what truly sets Jenny apart is how she embodies the spirit of service in every task she undertakes. As she beautifully puts it, “My favorite part about volunteering for the Red Cross is getting to hear people’s stories…I genuinely love talking to people and taking their picture.”

The first story she covered was the Lindley Towers building collapse in Philadelphia.

“It was my first time in a shelter and I was so moved by the people I met there. Telling their stories was a privilege and getting to see Red Cross volunteers in action was amazing,” she shared.

It’s evident that whether Jenny is capturing poignant moments through her lens or crafting compelling narratives for our blog, she is dedicated to making a difference.

It’s this commitment and meaningful contributions to nearly every aspect of our team that made her the recipient of the Exceptional Volunteer Award for Communications in 2023.

According to Jenny’s supervisor Alana Mauger, Red Cross regional communications manager, “Not only is Jenny an excellent writer who takes on many of the more challenging and emotional stories for our blog, but she frequently goes above and beyond to provide photography, event and media support for our region. Jenny is a compassionate listener and is a great sounding board for ideas. She’s always willing to share her considerable expertise in the field of communications.”

Thank you, Jenny, for your invaluable service and spirit of volunteerism. Your passion and commitment inspire us all to strive for excellence in everything we do.

To learn about Red Cross volunteer opportunities, visit redcross.org/volunteertoday.

Be a Guest Blogger

How to Blog for the American Red Cross – Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter

We love to hear from our volunteers in the field. Tell us about your experience! Your stories will help others understand what it means to be a volunteer at the SEPA Chapter of the American Red Cross. Your readers may even feel moved to lend us a hand. Try inspiring someone else with a story of your own.

Here are a few guidelines for ARC-SEPA guest blogging:

1. Don’t be afraid! If you had any experience at all as a volunteer with the Red Cross you are guaranteed to have a story to share. It’s the nature of our work. It’s dramatic.
2. Your story does not have to be current. Recently we worked with a blogger who was writing about the hurricane/flood response in the summer of 2011. This is an opportunity to share the kind of work we do and why it’s so important.
3. Make sure to include lots of details. Don’t just say you drove an ERV in the middle of the night. Tell your reading public how cold or warm it was, how you were feeling and what you were thinking. Describe the event you responded to and the people you helped but make sure to protect the privacy of those involved.
4. Use straightforward language, without a lot of adjectives or ornamentation to describe your experience. Let your verbs do the work. When talking about a serious incident or event, it’s best to keep things simple and clear. Your reader will bring his/her own emotions in response to your writing.
5. Include pictures, if you took any, when you send in your information. Make sure the people in the pictures agreed to let you publish the picture. Again, take care not to invade anyone’s privacy.
6. The Red Cross has your back. If you are worried that you are not the best writer, speller or grammarian in the world, our crafty editors have access to reference books that can help.
7. Dave Schrader, the head of our Communications Department, provided an excellent example of this sort of blogging when he recorded his experiences at several disasters on April 9^th, 2012. Check out our blog, redcrossphillyblog.org, to read his account of his extraordinary day.

Got an experience you want to share? Please consider submitting it to our blog. Send submissions to Sarah Peterson at printern01@redcross-philly.com.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing from you!