“I think people are hopefully becoming more and more aware of our need to love and support one another,” Anable said, “and to take care of the community. I feel very fortunate to be here and working, because I think there are other people who feel the same way.” Mark Pillar, retired Air Force major general and Delta Airlines captain, first met Anable in 2008 during a Red Cross presentation at the Columbus Rotary Club. Soon after their meeting, Pillar became a disaster volunteer. Currently serving as a Red Cross board member, he sees Anable as a very compassionate individual. “She is passionate about the Red Cross and its mission,” he said. “She is an excellent steward of donor dollars and is always looking for better ways to get things done.” As part of her position, it is ultimately Anable’s responsibility to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When she became director, she was always one of the first to arrive when a disaster occurred. However, she now has several disaster volunteers who help out
january 2012 • she magazine
in the event the organization is dispatched. “These are the people who are willing to get up in the middle of the night when it is 10 degrees out and jump in the car and go wherever we send them,” she said. In the wake of her experiences with the Red Cross, Anable says it is her faith that keeps her going. She says she feels blessed to work with so many wonderful people. She credits her position as offering the chance to know others on “wonderful missions” like her own. “I think we all have a purpose,” she said. “Sometimes it takes us awhile. We’re a little older before we figure out what that purpose is.”
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