| Red Cross honoree puts
others before herself, SHAPE co-workers say By Gregory Piatt, Belgium bureau
Aster Black |
MONS,
Belgium — At the Red Cross office at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is a
woman who has touched a lot of people’s lives.
Sometimes
she has had to deliver sad news to a servicemember and offer sympathy. At other times, she
has delivered assistance to Kosovo refugees in Belgium or advice to soldiers, sailors,
airmen or civilians who seek it.
To those
who have offices down the hall from Aster Black, she offers an occasional coffee or piece
of cake and tops it off with humor and a robust laugh.
"She
puts people before herself," said Pat Hayward, the 80th Area Support Group’s
adviser to the local American Red Cross station. "She is an example of someone who
fulfills the needs of those who come into the office. And she does more than that —
she spreads happiness."
It’s
this approach that has earned Black this year’s Armed Forces Emergency Services
Award, an award for the top employee or volunteer at a Red Cross station at a U.S.
military installation who makes an outstanding contribution. To get the award, Black, the
station chief at SHAPE, had to compete against those nominated from military installations
in the U.S. and abroad.
"There
were so many candidates in Europe and around the world," said Hayward, wife of the
80th ASG commander, Col. Stephen Hayward. "This is a hard award to get."
Black, who
will receive the award in a June ceremony in Washington, D.C., said she didn’t know
her co-workers nominated her for it.
Volunteer
Eva Maberry came across the award when Black had her look into award nominations for other
volunteers at the station.
"Without
letting her know, I had to ask Aster to find out what were her accomplishments,"
Maberry said. "Most of the time people think about energetic people who care about
the community, but forget about recognizing them. So this was a chance to pay her
back."
Black is in
charge of a station that not only meets the needs of the U.S. military community at SHAPE
and at the U.S. installations in Chievres, Belgium, but of a diverse community of 54
nationalities, which include the 19 NATO members and countries participating in the
alliance’s Partnership for Peace program. As station chief for the last three and
half years, she has been in charge of 200 volunteers from at least 11 different nations.
Although
she has been an inspiring leader and a paid Red Cross staff member for a decade, it has
been Black’s sense of duty to those in need that has driven her.
"It’s
my life and what I do," Black said about her need to help people and volunteer.
"I don’t remember doing anything else. I’ve been doing it since I was a
child."
"I
come from a family that has always volunteered. My sister and brothers were volunteers
with the Ethiopian Red Cross. We were brought up to always do something for
somebody."
Black’s
career with American Red Cross began after leaving her native Ethiopia in the late 1960s.
In the 1970s, she was a volunteer at a hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas, helping the
elderly.
She later
married Gorham Black, who was in the Army and later retired as a colonel, and became a Red
Cross volunteer working with the military. She then became a staff member and, before
coming to SHAPE, she served at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and Osan, Korea.
Black will
move again this summer when she becomes the station chief serving military personnel in
Elmendorf, Alaska. Although Black will miss Belgium and SHAPE’s diverse community,
living in Alaska has always been her dream.
But while
there will be a lot of well-wishers, there will be a lot of people sad to see her leave.
"We’re
going to miss her a lot," Maberry said. "Her shoes are going to be very hard to
fill."
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