CARIBOU, Maine — Lori Knight-Phair was only 5 years old when she knew without a doubt that she wanted to become a teacher.
She was so committed to becoming a teacher she started providing educational lessons to her cat.
Now into a 17-year teaching career, that same insightful and dedicated 5-year-old knew she wanted to be a Red Cross volunteer.
Lori grew up listening to stories from her great aunt Evelyn about the famed nonprofit and how it actively helped those who were in need; those memorable tales stuck with her through the years.
“I took in every bit of it,” Lori said with a grin. “The history of the Red Cross, how it helped in war time and the nurses — it’s just something I knew I wanted to do from a young age.”
Now a board member and a disaster relief coordinator with the Red Cross, Lori’s first act of volunteerism started back when she reached the required 18-year-old age for donating blood, and her assistance with blood drives continued through college.
The nonprofit and Lori crossed paths again in the late 1990s when an ice storm ravaged the Belfast and Camden area, where she lived while working for the major banking company MBNA.
“When the ice storm came, it took everyone by surprise. We didn’t realize what an impact it was going to have,” she recalled.
Lori remembers that MBNA opened up its brand new building, which hadn’t been furnished for occupation yet, so that the American Red Cross had a space to provide its disaster relief services.
“We would go as MBNA employees on our time off to volunteer with the Red Cross to make sure the community was fed and that they had someplace warm to go,” she added.
Despite having a full-time job and a home that lacked power for 21 days from the icy disaster, Lori found time to make sure others were taken care of.
“It’s kind of like giving a Christmas present — you’re not thinking about yourself,” the Red Cross board member explained. “You’re thinking about that person or those people and how you can help them … it just felt good.”
Now a middle school teacher in Caribou, she advises the Builder’s Club — a youth-level program of the Kiwanis Club that has a large focus on philanthropy.
“It just lent itself to getting involved with the Red Cross,” Lori explained.
She reached out to Director of the Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross Joyce Knorr, and a partnership was formed.
Every March, the Builder’s Club students participate in Red Cross Month aimed at spreading awareness and support for the organization.
“They love it — they love knowing they can impact and help in some way,” Lori said. “They’re a great bunch of kids and they’re always looking for a way to give back to the community.”
Not only do they give back, they have fun doing it.
An annual tradition at the school, Red Cross Month means the implementation of a penny war — and last year’s battle raised over $250 for the nonprofit.
Each homeroom attempts to raise the most pennies, but students from other homerooms can sabotage those efforts by placing dollar bills or silver coins into a homeroom’s penny jar.
“Pennies add up to a lot, but if you put a dollar in a competitor’s jar, they lose 100 pennies,” the educator said with a smile. “It becomes quite a battle.”
Though competition drives some young students to participate in the penny wars, the fundraiser’s intent goes a long way as well.
“They know that money is going to help a family locally and with all the house fires that have happened in the community this year, they’ve been so closely affected even if they didn’t know that person,” Lori explained.
Dropping a handful of pennies into a jar is a way that even sixth-graders can feel good about giving back.
Teachers are notoriously busy, but Lori finds time for volunteering — much to the amazement of her students.
They’ll look at her questionably, for instance, when they find out she spent a whole Saturday installing smoke detectors.
“Why?” they’ll ask, perplexed as to why she’d spend a whole Saturday working for free.
“I tell them ‘because people need to be safe, and I had Saturday to give,” she’ll simply state.
Giving back to one’s community doesn’t have to have a price tag, but Lori thinks it’s something everyone should try to do.
“If it’s volunteering an hour a week or a half hour a week even to read with kids — it doesn’t have to cost anything,” she emphasized. “I feel like volunteering where you can and when you can make time is a civic responsibility.”
