Social Worker Also a Miracle Worker for the Down and Out

Just before the holidays, James Fuller, his wife and four children were broke and about to be evicted from a Glendale motel room.

Fuller had lost his job after an injury, then lost his apartment because of overdue rent. One of his daughters had just died of pneumonia. Now, he feared, his family would have to sleep on the streets.

In desperation, Fuller, 34, called the Glendale Crescenta Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. In half an hour, Norge Seward, who had just returned from aiding victims of the disastrous Oakland brush fire, had arranged three more days of shelter at the motel. And in the weeks that followed, she helped raise enough donations to move the Fullers into a new apartment and put food in their cupboards.

“We had a beautiful Christmas,” Fuller said. “Norge has really pulled off some miracles for a lot of people--including my family.”

Rescuing the Fullers was business-as-usual for Seward, whose first name rhymes with Georgie. She is one of five full-time employees and the only social worker at the Red Cross chapter, which serves about 210,000 residents of Glendale and La Crescenta.

During the last two years, Seward has taken on challenges that go far beyond the familiar blood drives and first-aid courses.

In June, 1990, as the chapter’s emergency services director, she spearheaded relief efforts after Glendale’s worst fire damaged or destroyed 64 houses, leaving many families homeless.

Last year, during the Persian Gulf War, she helped Middle Eastern immigrants contact 2,000 relatives living in the war zone or being held as prisoners. Because of the city’s large Middle Eastern immigrant population, the Glendale chapter processed more war inquiries than any of the 2,700 Red Cross chapters nationwide, according to the national office.

Seward, 40, earned her reputation as a miracle worker by taking on cases that others might have abandoned. To help those in distress, she looks first to government agencies and private charities. As a last resort, she seeks publicity in newspapers and on television urging donors to come forward.

Consider the case of Anna Ziouzina, a 3-year-old Russian girl who was battling leukemia. A year ago, Anna’s uncle, who lives in Glendale, told Seward that the girl was receiving inadequate care in the Soviet Union. Could Seward help bring her to the United States?

The Red Cross staffer made dozens of international phone calls and sent faxes to arrange the girl’s relocation and medical care.

Last May, Anna and her grateful parents arrived in Glendale. Initially, the family had to stay with relatives in a tiny, overcrowded apartment. But after seeing news reports about the family, a benefactor offered them free housing.

In recent months, Anna has been undergoing chemotherapy at the City of Hope in Duarte. Family members say her condition has improved dramatically.

“I think Anna would have died” in Russia, said Marine Agazaryan, the girl’s cousin. “Norge was the one who brought her over here. I don’t think anyone else could have done it.”

Still, Seward acknowledges, “You can’t help everybody.” During the Christmas season, 52 needy families contacted the Glendale Red Cross, seeking to be “adopted” by local churches and service groups. But there was only enough aid to help half of them.

Seward did not take the shortfall personally. “When you do the best job you can do, then there is no judgment of whether you succeeded or failed,” Seward said. “I’ve got no expectations. That’s all there is to it. The only power I have is the power of giving.

“You always have to remind yourself that you’re a human being. You have to take your ego and your heart and tuck them away someplace. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, you’re nothing but a bleeding heart waiting for people to pick it apart. You’re no good to the client.”

Still, Seward admitted to special feelings for Anna Ziouzina, perhaps because the ill child reminded Seward of her own daughter, Faith Marie, who died as an infant two decades ago. While grieving, Seward and her husband, who had little money, also worried about how to pay for the funeral. Then Red Cross workers arrived at the hospital.

“It was really delicate--I was only 19 years old,” she recalled. “They approached us in that kind, loving fashion and gave us a check for all the costs.” It was Seward’s first personal encounter with the Red Cross.

Later, Seward studied social work at Cal State Northridge and Pepperdine University. She adopted a son, now grown, who recently named his infant daughter Faith Marie.

Ten years ago, Seward took a job with the Salvation Army in Glendale. Then three years ago, she moved to the city’s Red Cross chapter.

Although her attention is on other people’s problems, Seward is facing a challenge of her own. Two years ago, she learned she has multiple sclerosis, a disease that impairs the central nervous system.

“I think my work keeps me from giving in to the disease,” Seward said. “Even if it’s a false sense of omnipotence, it keeps me going.

“I don’t have time for the pity pot at all. For every problem, there’s a solution. You just have to keep exploring to find the right avenue. If the left door doesn’t work, go to the right door.”