American Red Cross Mid-Alabama chapter makes hire for new role
The Red Cross of Alabama named David Goodwin as community executive for the American Red Cross Mid-Alabama chapter April 29. This is a new role for the Red Cross of Alabama, and Goodwin’s focus will include board development, fundraising, community outreach and education.
Living in Birmingham since the age of 10, Goodwin is a graduate of Ramsay High School and Samford University. He has worked in the nonprofit sector for 25 years, including serving with the Birmingham YMCA, Samford’s alumni programs and Habitat for Humanity. He describes it as fun, rewarding work.
Goodwin is now in his third year working with the American Red Cross. He started in 2016 in a fundraising role working with donors. For the past 19 months, he served as chief operating officer before starting his new role.
“I work with our local board of directors for the mid chapter, which includes Jefferson and Shelby counties and the other eight surrounding counties that make up that larger greater Birmingham area,” he said. “I’m involved with our volunteers every day, really, and have the exciting opportunity to tell the story of what the Red Cross is doing and engage people in ways they can participate.”
Goodwin will be engaging with the volunteers who serve on the local board of directors, as well as continuing with fundraising opportunities supporting the work that the Red Cross does through generous small and large donations and from companies in the area.
Stepping into his new role during the COVID-19 pandemic, things have been operating differently. Goodwin said he and his team have been working to find the right ways to respond and help members of the community as things come up.
“A bunch of our regular day-to-day work continues but different than we would normally do it,” he said. “We can’t go into homes for smoke alarm installations. We were not able to follow up on those affected by storms during the first two weekends of April. We are not bringing victims of a tornado into a gymnasium for a shelter, but instead using local hotel rooms. We continue to work through our veterans’ homes over the phone.”
However, this has been an opportunity for the Red Cross of Alabama to improve and reiterate the training volunteers have. The organization been offering online training classes as people have had more time to go through them.
While blood drives are an important part of what the Red Cross of Alabama does, supplying about 40% of the nation’s blood, it also teaches skills that save lives, partners with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to assist after plane crashes, responds to assist victims of disasters; provides mental health counseling and is involved in United States Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and long-term health facilities.
Last year, the Mid-Alabama chapter helped Alabama’s Red Cross provide more than $1.4 million of disaster assistance for nearly 3,000 families; taught first aid/CPR/AED and preparedness classes to 37,000 people; provided emergency casework services for 10,700 members of the military; installed 7,500 free smoke alarms in homes that needed them; and collected 201,437 units of life-saving blood.
Goodwin said he hopes to grow the board and add eight more members this year and have more face-to-face opportunities to talk about the organization with groups. He said he is proud of all the ways that the American Red Cross helps make a difference in lives.
Goodwin works at the Caldwell Trace office of the American Red Cross. He and his family live in Pelham, and his wife works at Samford University.
“There are many exciting things ahead for the organization, and I continue to be energized by my interactions with compassionate volunteers and the people we serve,” Goodwin said. “With the continued support of our community partners and volunteers, I have no doubt that we will continue to deepen the impact we have in our communities.”