Editor’s Note: In commemoration of Red Cross Month and Women’s History Month, we are publishing a series of #LeadLikeClara profiles featuring local women volunteer leaders who emulate the leadership characteristics of Red Cross founder Clara Barton.

By Terri Seydel

Every disaster response has two stories.

One is the story we see—volunteers arriving, shelters opening, families receiving help in their most difficult moments.

The other story unfolds quietly behind the scenes. Systems must work. Information must flow. Caseworkers must have the right tools at the exact moment someone needs help rebuilding their life.

This year, the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Region celebrates Donna Zacker, a dedicated volunteer leader who “Leads Like Clara,” a phrase inspired by the humanitarian legacy of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross and a pioneer of compassionate service.

And if you ask anyone on the disaster team, they will tell you: Donna leads exactly like Clara—quietly, skillfully, and with relentless dedication to helping people.

A Volunteer Who Chose Service

When Donna moved to the Philadelphia area in 2012, she made a decision that would shape the next chapter of her life.

Instead of pursuing a traditional full-time job, she looked for meaningful ways to give back. She found that opportunity with the Red Cross, becoming a disaster caseworker, a role that places volunteers directly on the front lines of helping individuals and families recover after fires, storms, and other emergencies.

Caseworkers are often the lifeline for people navigating the immediate aftermath of disaster. They connect clients with resources, help them understand next steps, and ensure no one has to face recovery alone.

But Donna didn’t stop there.

The Power Behind the Platform

In 2020, the Red Cross introduced RC Care, a software platform designed to support disaster casework by organizing client information, resources, and response coordination in one centralized system.

Donna quickly became one of the region’s most important leaders behind the platform.

RC Care allows case workers to:

• Manage disaster client cases through an integrated console
• Access dashboards and reporting tools that help teams make informed decisions
• Connect clients with expanded community resources through Findhelp (findhelp.org), a national resource database
• Share data that supports large-scale planning with agencies such as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Donna played a key role in launching the system locally and coordinating training for the volunteers who depend on it every day.

For many disaster caseworkers, RC Care is the tool that helps them focus less on logistics and more on what matters most…helping people.

Donna ensures that tool keeps getting better by continuing to help manage updates and enhancements that expand the system’s capabilities, allowing the Red Cross to respond more efficiently and support clients more effectively after disasters.

Expanding Impact for Large-Scale Response

Donna’s work with RC Care is now expanding to support one of the Red Cross’s newer services: Shelter Resident Transition, which assists people staying in shelters during large-scale disaster events as they move toward longer-term recovery.

This service becomes especially critical during major incidents, when shelters must support many residents simultaneously.

Through Donna’s leadership, RC Care now helps teams coordinate this work more effectively, ensuring people leaving emergency shelter have clear pathways to the next stage of support.

In other words, the technology helps volunteers do what they do best: care for people.

A Leader Who Still Serves on the Front Lines

What makes Donna’s contribution even more remarkable is that she continues to serve as a disaster caseworker herself.

While helping maintain and improve the system used across the region, she remains directly involved in assisting clients and supporting fellow volunteers.

Colleagues often describe Donna as someone who genuinely enjoys helping others succeed. She is known for mentoring volunteers, answering questions, and encouraging new team members as they learn the complex but deeply rewarding work of disaster case management.

Simply put: she builds systems—but she builds people, too.

Leading Like Clara

Lead Like Clara profiles recognize women whose leadership reflects the spirit of Clara Barton: courage, service, and a steadfast commitment to helping others during their most vulnerable moments.

Donna Zacker embodies that spirit.

Through her work with RC Care, her dedication as a disaster case worker, and her passion for supporting fellow volunteers, she has strengthened the Red Cross mission in ways that often go unseen, but never unfelt.

Because when disaster strikes, families need help quickly.

And thanks to Donna’s leadership behind the scenes, the people who answer that call are better equipped than ever to respond.

Congratulations to Donna Zacker as a Lead Like Clara honoree and a true champion of the Red Cross mission.

Her work ensures that when communities face their hardest days, compassion, coordination, and care are already in place.