Disaster response volunteer honored with regional Lifetime Achievement Award
In the small, scenic city of Redwood Falls, Minnesota – a place rooted in community – lives a woman whose quiet strength and unwavering compassion have rippled far beyond city limits. Her name is Diane – a Red Cross volunteer.
For 20 years, Diane Radel has been a steadfast presence in moments of crisis. From the wreckage of Hurricane Harvey to the fierce winds of Hurricane Ian, from catastrophic flooding in Louisiana, she has deployed to 18 national disasters. Closer to home, she’s responded to apartment fires and local disasters, always showing up when her community needs her most.
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Her roles have varied – driving Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) to deliver warm meals, comforting survivors in emergency shelters, and distributing supplies to families facing unimaginable loss. But no matter the task, Diane brought more than resources – she brought hope, dignity, and a calming presence in moments of chaos.
A Calling Found in Crisis
Diane’s journey with the Red Cross began with a single image – a newspaper photo of volunteers in iconic red vests responding to a tornado in Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, in 2003. She didn’t know it then, but the image planted a seed.
In 2005, when Diane’s father passed away, she found her daily routine unraveled. “I was a lost pup,” she remembers. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Then came the call for volunteers after Hurricane Katrina. “They said it was a three-week deployment, all expenses paid,” Diane recalls. “I had the time. Although I had seven kids, three in college – it just lit a fire in me.”
After speaking with fellow Red Cross volunteer Barb Billmeier, Diane took the leap. “It was the first time I’d ever been away from home that long,” she says. But her husband and children encouraged her, saying, “Go…they need you more than we do.”
With compassion as her guide, Diane stepped into the role of caring for people finding refuge in a Red Cross shelter helping those who had lost everything. That first deployment marked the beginning of a journey that has spanned two decades.
Service Across the Nation
Diane’s volunteer work took her to disaster zones across the U.S., including a Thanksgiving spent helping in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in New York. “I thought I should be home with my family, but I just felt I needed to go and help,” she remembers, “but once again, they said, ‘Go…they need you more than we do.’”
One unforgettable memory from that deployment was delivering meals in the ERV to a high-rise in Chinatown that had lost power. “We didn’t serve the meals directly – we dropped them off. While waiting to pick up the food containers, Diane and fellow volunteers took a walking tour near Ground Zero, witnessing the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. “It was humbling,” she said. “A moment of grace in a difficult time.”
Diane also mentions her deployment to help those affected by Hurricane Helene last fall. She remembers the mountainous terrain and survivors still waiting for word on missing neighbors. “Someone said we needed to be strong for them – but no, we cried with them,” she recalls.
A Life of Service
When asked what she’d say to someone considering volunteering with the Red Cross, Diane doesn’t hesitate. “Do it! It’s rewarding. Your heart has to be in it but give it a try. You’ll get way more back than you ever give.”
She speaks honestly about the challenges – long days, sleeping on cots, working with all kinds of people – but insists the rewards are worth it. “Any time you volunteer, it’s a blessing.”
Strength In the Face of Her Own Storm
In 2018, Diane faced a new battle: breast cancer. After a double mastectomy, chemo, radiation, and five years of treatment, she was declared cancer-free – until last year.
In November, scans revealed cancer had returned, spreading to her spine and lymph nodes.
“There’s no timeframe,” she says softly. “It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Though her body has slowed, and she can no longer donate blood – once a treasured part of her Red Cross work – her spirit remains unshaken. “My heart is still in it, even if my body isn’t.”
A Lifetime of Meaning
Diane was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Red Cross. She recalls, “As they were reading the award, I thought, wow, that sounds really good and then I realized, they were talking about me!”
Sean Farley-Cowdin, Senior Community Disaster Program Manager for the Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region presented Diane with the award. “When the need is most, Diane doesn’t hesitate – she simply shows up. From the very beginning, with more than enough on her plate she had every reason to say, ‘not now,’ but she didn’t – she leaned in. She said yes. Yes, to her community. Yes, to the mission. Yes, to strangers facing the hardest day of their lives. Because for Diane, helping isn’t a duty – it’s who she is.”
Looking back, she says, “The years just flew by.” Each deployment forged lifelong friendship. “It all felt so natural – it’s my passion and what I was always meant to do.”
To serve with such compassion for 20 years requires an extraordinary heart. Diane’s legacy lives on in every life she’s touched – not through fanfare, but through quiet heroism, deep empathy and human connection.
Her story reminds us that true service comes from love – and a heart that never stops giving.
“The forecast is predicting a severe hurricane season this year,” she says, “I wish I could be there to help – it’s in my heart.”
For all who know her, one thing is certain: the world is better because Diane chose to help – again and again – with love, conviction, and a full heart.
If you have a heart to help like Diane, learn about Red Cross volunteer opportunities near you visit redcross.org/givetime.
American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region 