Wendy Rinehart
Wendy worked as an Emergency Services specialist for the American Red Cross, serving active duty military families in crisis. During the early 1990’s, Wendy established the first support group for the families of the men and women deployed in Desert Storm/Desert Shield. In the same position, Wendy also worked with families as they lost everything in disaster situations. She travelled the country on National Disaster Assignments and was promoted within the Red Cross system. She worked as Public Relations Spokesperson, Family Services Supervisor, and eventually Director of Disaster Operations. In Kansas City, after working with many mothers that lost children in homes without a working fire detector, Wendy started a free fire detector installation program locally. This program earned her national recognition and a scholarship from the American Red Cross. In 1993, Kansas City was hit with historical flooding. Wendy was appointed Director of the massive relief effort and worked tirelessly to help families start over. Wendy became the first female Executive Director of the American Red Cross in Decatur, Illinois. She instantly put the Decatur Chapter on the map, Wendy was blindly recruited to join GE to sell long term care insurance and became a top salesman because she believed in the mission of giving families dignity and choice at the end of their lives. After the loss of her brother, she and her husband David formed Family Solutions for Care.
