"In 1944 I heard about girls going overseas with the Red Cross,” said Lillian Hansen, ensconced in a comfortable wingback chair in the living room of her Manhattan apartment. A petite woman of 89, dressed in tasteful slacks and black sweater with becomingly coifed gray hair, Lillian was reminiscing about her six decades of service as a Red Cross volunteer.

That service began in Michigan, where she donated blood and rolled bandages at her local Red Cross to help the war effort. Lillian dreamed of seeing Europe, and wasted no time signing up for a two-year overseas program as a Red Cross volunteer.

She was first sent to an army hospital in Missouri for six months, where, as a Red Cross recreation worker, she helped to entertain patients with craft projects, bingo and card games. Lillian enjoyed the work, but still yearned to see Europe. In the late spring of 1945, just after the war in Europe ended, she got her wish.

Service in England, France and Germany

At the time, American Red Cross worked under the direction of the US Army. London and Europe were still filled with American troops. As a Red Cross worker, Lillian helped to lift the spirits of soldiers on three-day passes. “We had information and pamphlets for them, and local people to take them sightseeing,” she said.

During the following two years, Red Cross sent Lillian to an army hospital in eastern France, and to servicemen's clubs in Paris and Mannheim, Germany.  Lillian was anything but homesick. “I had a hard-working, but exciting time. They took good care of us and the fighting was over,” she said.

Lillian wasn't the only one in her family to join the Red Cross. Her sister Erna worked with Red Cross in New Guinea and Leyte during World War II and in Japan after the war.

Soon after returning home from Germany, Lillian moved to New York, and has been here ever since. Like Lillian, Erna also moved to New York, employed as a Red Cross caseworker. Lillian went into book publishing, working for Harpers and later, Viking Press, until her retirement in 1982. She was in charge of foreign rights—selling foreign publishers the right to translate and publish books abroad.

Volunteering in New York

After getting settled in New York, it was natural for Lillian to again get involved with the Red Cross.  She joined the Overseas Service League, which was founded by New York City women who had served with the Red Cross in Europe during World War I. League members met at the New York Red Cross Chapter on Lexington Avenue and 37th Street and later, at 150 Amsterdam Avenue. “A lot of us girls from World War II joined them,” said Lillian. “Monthly meetings involved lectures and entertainments and, of course, reminiscing about service overseas.”

Lillian volunteered one night a week for the Red Cross blood bank. (Blood services are now handled by Greater New York Blood Center.) She drove a Red Cross station wagon. “Many small hospitals did not have their own blood banks,” said Lillian. “They requested blood and we delivered it in the evening. I went out alone to Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to these obscure little hospitals—I don’t know how I did it,” she said. “But I just felt safe, protected by the Red Cross symbol.” Once, Lillian transported an eye. “It was in a little carton. It had to go fast to the eye clinic.”

After she retired, Lillian volunteered as a Red Cross driver, ferrying patients to dialysis centers in upper Manhattan and the Bronx. When that program ended, Lillian finally gave up her work with Red Cross and became a volunteer gardener in Central Park.

Gifts from the Heart

But her deep connection with Red Cross remains. After a lifetime of volunteering, Lillian became a member of the Clara Barton Society, joining supporters of the Red Cross in Greater New York who have made planned gifts (gifts through their financial or estate plans). She has named Red Cross in her Will, and made four Charitable Gift Annuities with the organization.

Lillian set up her first Red Cross gift annuity six years ago. “I have hardly any family left,” she said, “so I decided to give money to the Red Cross and get income for myself. I wasn’t being all that generous,” she joked.

“It gives me a good return,” she added. “You can leave money in your Will, but this way, you leave money ahead of time and you get a charitable deduction.” Lillian’s annuities will pay her a fixed income for the rest of her life, and some of that income is tax free.

“I feel a great loyalty to Red Cross. I try to contribute every year,” she said. “I’m still in touch with a few overseas Red Cross workers. I’ve mentioned gift annuities to them, and I try to encourage them to donate during the month of March, which is Red Cross Month. I want Red Cross to keep going and succeed and be as useful as it has always been,” she concluded.

Lillian Hansen has seen firsthand how Red Cross makes a difference in the lives of people affected by disasters. Without the support of generous donors like Lillian, the New York Chapter would not be able to provide support services to the Greater New York community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, assisting more than 100,000 people at emergencies and disasters, as we did in 2005. To learn more about Red Cross Planned Giving, please contact Marco Brehm at 212-875-2119 or BrehmM@arcgny.org