Alvina Berggren receives Red Cross Distinguished Service Award

By Anne Margaret MacDonald
On May 28th Alvina Berggren was presented with the Red Cross Distinguished Service Award for 24 years of dedicated service and volunteerism both locally and internationally.
This national award is presented to a Red Cross volunteer who has superior service, whose leadership has been a benefit to the Red Cross mission on a local or national level, who has distinguished service in a diversity of roles, and who has demonstrated enthusiasm, reliability, and commitment to the fundamental principles of the Red Cross. Berggren has all the qualities mentioned above and more.
For over two decades Berggren has dedicated countless hours of service to the community. She spends on average around 140 hours a year working with the Red Cross, by responding to calls for disaster management and running the Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP). For eight years now she has been running the HELP for the Fort Nelson and area, which is one of the 15 departments for HELP in the region. Through HELP Berggren works to connect people to the short term borrowing of medical equipment, usually about three months. This drastically helps aid in recovery time and rehabilitation from surgeries and injuries, as the people are able to recover in the comfort of their own home without compromising the medical equipment. Without Berggren’s tireless effort the operation of this vital program would be jeopardized. Members of the Prince George Red Cross division have referred her to as the ‘backbone’ of the HELP and of the Red Cross in Fort Nelson.
Berrgren has also directed her volunteerism internationally a number of times over the years. She has directed her knowledge, skills, and time altruistically to help in the disaster relief for natural disasters all over North America. She has responded to the 9/11 attacks in New York, she went for disaster relief in Louisiana for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, she went for the flood response in both New Orleans and Saskatchewan, as well as many other large and small scale disasters. For all her hard work comes reward, both personal growth and professional recognition. She has received a number of awards over the years for her volunteerism. She has been given many certificates of appreciation from the Red Cross, as well as 10, 15, and 20-year milestone awards, a Community Service Certificate of Merit, and in 2003 she received the Queen’s Jubilee Award for her efforts in the 9/11 disaster relief.
Berggren was originally nominated or the Red Cross Distinguished Service Award two years ago for her exceptional dedication to the organisation. Upon selecting her to be the recipient of the award, they decided to wait until they were able to hand-deliver her the award and personally thank her for her contributions. Her efforts do not go unnoticed in the community, and are reflected regionally and internationally as well.

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