For most of us, a basketball game ends with a score. For Storm Lake’s Mike Frantz, it ended with a Red Cross deployment. A phone call during the final minutes sent him racing from the couch to the airport—bound for Washington state and its flood‑stricken communities.
Frantz says the call came late at night on Dec. 11, just as the Iowa vs. Iowa State men’s game was wrapping up.
From headquarters in Lynnwood, Wash., Frantz, a retired college admissions, financial aid, and marketing consultant, was assigned as an ERV driver—an emergency response vehicle he calls a food truck.
He’s part of the first wave of more than 270 Red Cross volunteers covering a 123,000‑square‑mile area of western Washington. Working with the Southern Baptist Convention, Frantz picks up meals in Monroe and delivers them to shelters in Mount Vernon.
He says patience and flexibility have been key during this deployment.
That lesson hit home last weekend, when he spent a full day at headquarters with no mission.
Even without direct client contact, Frantz says moments of impact still come. He recalls traveling to Everson, Wash., where he and fellow volunteers delivered gloves and made ready to eat meals and helped spur the opening of a new shelter.
Frantz’s two-week deployment runs through Christmas Day, though flight schedules remain uncertain. He says the work is worth it, even if it means spending the holiday in service.
