Handing It to a Helping Hand

Megan Smock was there to help when hundreds of people lost their homes in the Laguna Beach fires of 1993. She coordinated relief during the floods of El Nino. She has summoned emergency teams to countless other scenes in Orange County where people have been suddenly forced from their homes by disaster.

Team leader for about 150 American Red Cross volunteers who provide immediate relief when lives are turned upside-down, Smock was one of seven people nationwide honored recently for her dedication to helping others.

“It feels wonderful to be able to take the horrible devastation in someone’s life and help make it bearable,” said Smock, 43, of Yorba Linda. As a recipient of the National Volunteer Award from J.C. Penney Co., her employer, she helped secure a $10,000 donation from the retailer for the Red Cross’s emergency programs through its Orange County chapter.

She is usually anonymous, for she rarely visits the disaster scenes. Because she has had poor vision since birth, she cannot drive. Instead, she gets on the phone and calls on others to help.

“I realized there was no way I was getting up at 3 a.m. and driving somewhere,” she said. “I wish I could get more involved, but that’s just not feasible. When you have a disability you decide whether you want to live your life in joy or in sorrow. I chose to live my life in joy.”

*

Ernest E. Cotten III, assistant director of disaster services for the Red Cross’s Orange County chapter, said Smock’s dedication has inspired many.

“She really cares about other people,” he said. “I wish people without disabilities had the type of drive she does.”

Mike Cannon, director of family services for the local Red Cross chapter, said Smock has a knack for remaining calm and pleasant, regardless of the situation.

That is how it must be, Smock said. It wouldn’t do to be grumpy when calling volunteers in the middle of the night. “It’s important to be nice, cheerful and say, ‘I have a fire for you,’ ” she said.

Besides being on call for the Red Cross, Smock works full time for J.C. Penney at the Brea Mall, where she has been employed since shortly after graduating from UC Riverside with a degree in Russian. She provides clerical help to the store management, operates the switchboard and prints store fliers and reports. Though her vision is limited, she said, she can see well enough to read.

Being a Red Cross volunteer often means being available “24-7,” she said. That might mean getting as many as five emergency calls in one night--her record, she said.

No one knows when a call for help might come in, she said, recalling one Christmas Eve when she was alerted while singing a solo at a church concert.

“I didn’t have any pockets, so I turned my pager on ‘vibrate’ and tucked it inside my bra,” she said. “Guess what? It went off right in the middle of my solo. I hit a very high note, finished the solo and left to take care the disaster.”