Welcome to 2025 - A Message from Becky McCorry

The new year brings fresh energy and ideas, and I’m honored to serve as president at a time when these things are so crucial for ARCAN.

Before we talk business, I want to mention our Red Cross colleagues whose homes, loved ones and communities are in the paths of the devastating wildfires in southern California. Our hearts and support are with you, and also all those bringing disaster relief. Please be safe and stay in touch as things progress. 

We’re hitting the ground running in 2025 and I couldn’t be more excited to be working with the new leadership as we plan for improving our offerings and growing our membership. Join me in welcoming our new board members Yvonne Bell-White, Megan Chamberlain and Neal Denton; and in sharing our appreciation to those handing off their batons, board members Mary Buszuwski, Randy Hutson and Matt Meyer, for your exceptional time and talents.

Our goals for 2025 include:

• building a solid foundation to expand ARCAN, 
• growing our membership, 
• continuing to provide services important to retirees and alumni, and
• become financially stable. 

The membership has remained flat over the last few years. There are fewer retirees and therefore fewer people joining the organization. Also, since the inception of ARCRA, lifetime memberships have been offered but they have been discontinued to ensure the financial sustainability of ARCAN. We are at a crossroads because there are 1,252 members of which 594 are Lifetime (not paying annual dues). 

As an alumni network, our membership will grow organically while also providing a space for folks leaving the Red Cross to continue to connect around the mission. Our surveys with members and followers on social media have shown a strong desire to connect and gather with others who have left the organization. ARCAN wants to be the social fabric that brings them together. We’re looking forward to more ways of coming together and opportunities for you to volunteer or participate!

Please enjoy the January newsletter. We welcome your feedback and ideas on it and all our communications tools and initiatives as ARCAN forges ahead. Feel free to connect with me anytime at president@redcrossalumni.org.

Cheers to a Happy Healthy 2025!

ARCAN President

ARCAN 2024 Overview

The Retiree Connection, our helpline where volunteers help Red Cross retirees navigate their pension and benefits, assisted nearly 250 pensioners.  

New and traditional events grew in participation as we worked to find new ways to bring members together. The March webinar with Kate Forbes had more than 70 attendees; October’s inaugural Homecoming event had 75; and the recent Fireside Chat with Trevor Riggen had 55. One attendee commented, “It was awesome to be with so many legends!” 

The new website averaged 600 unique users per month, and 100 organic searches (visits coming through a search vs. clicking a link provided) per month.  

The updated newsletter was read by more than 60 percent of our members. Alumni feature stories and memorials tended to be read the most. Event registrations and the website Member Directory and Homepage also had a high number of clicks.  

ARCAN social media channels connected more than a thousand alumni and friends on Facebook and LinkedIn and promoted ARCAN membership and offerings.