Marionville Woman Recognized
by Missouri Red Cross for Volunteer Work
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March 15, 2018
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Crissy Carsten will be recognized by Red Cross of Southern Missouri as a community impact hero for her devotion to volunteering and helping others.
Isaac Estes-Jones
Giving back comes naturally for Marionville’s Crissy Carsten. She will be recognized as a Community Impact Hero at the Everyday Heroes Signature Event held by the Red Cross of Southern Missouri on Wednesday, March 21.
“I decided I wanted to start giving back a few years ago and did some Googling and found The Victim Center in Springfield. I felt like that was a place where I could really make a difference,” Carsten said.
She started taking volunteer shifts at The Victim Center in 2013. The volunteer coordinator at the Center, Paula Tindell, nominated Carsten for this award. “Crissy Carsten works to serve others in many ways,” Tindell wrote in her nomination. “Crissy has been a volunteer for The Victim Center since 2013 and continues to go above and beyond to assist members of the community.”
“My grandparents and mother are really giving,” Carsten says. “I just want to make them proud. My grandfather passed around the time I started volunteering, and I know this would make him proud.”
At The Victim Center, Carsten goes out into the community to help when someone reports being assaulted. “Crissy selflessly works after-hours through the 24-hour crisis line. She offers support and provides crisis intervention to victims of violent or sexual crimes and their families. She even makes time to meet victims at area law enforcement agencies, area hospital emergency rooms or crime scenes,” Tindell wrote in her nomination.
“When someone calls and needs us, we go out to the hospital with them to provide support,” Carsten said. “We also bring a comfort kit, because anything the person was wearing at the time of the assault can be considered evidence. We don’t want people to have to leave the hospital in just the paper gown they give you there. So we provide sweats, flip-flops and other items to make sure they are comfortable.”
Her advocacy at The Victim Center has already earned Carsten recognitions. She received the President’s Volunteer Service Award and has acheived a Gold Level recognition for her work.
But the Victim Center is not the only way Carsten gives back. She coaches and refs soccer games. She also volunteers with the Make a Wish Foundation and the Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) Children’s Project.
“A-T is really close to my heart,” Carsten says. “My brother has it. It’s a recessive genetic disorder that affects 1 in every 500,000 people. He is already 11 years past the life expectancy doctors gave him when he was young. So I like to help out kids with that as much as possible.”
“I started working with Make a Wish in September, but I’d been meaning to for years,” she says. “My brother was a Make a Wish kid, so I wanted to help with that too. They were asking for volunteers at work, so I got involved that way.”
These are only a few of the ways Crissy Carsten gives back to her community. She also plans to take Senior Pictures for some that cannot otherwise afford it. “I want to start a charity with other photographers doing this,” she says. “Especially for foster kids. I think it is important for them to have some sense of normalcy since most of their life has not been so normal.
Carsten lives in Marionville with her boxer Ziva. “My family has been in this area for a long time, with my grandparents in and around Hurley and Crane. I’m very close to my family, they are very important to me.”
Carsten was shocked to find out she was getting this Red Cross award. “There were 70 other people nominated,” she says, “so it was very surprising to find out I won.” “The amount of volunteer work she does is truly remarkable,” Stacy Burks, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Southern Missouri said about Carsten receiving this award.
Giving back comes naturally for Marionville’s Crissy Carsten. She will be recognized as a Community Impact Hero at the Everyday Heroes Signature Event held by the Red Cross of Southern Missouri on Wednesday, March 21.
“I decided I wanted to start giving back a few years ago and did some Googling and found The Victim Center in Springfield. I felt like that was a place where I could really make a difference,” Carsten said.
She started taking volunteer shifts at The Victim Center in 2013. The volunteer coordinator at the Center, Paula Tindell, nominated Carsten for this award. “Crissy Carsten works to serve others in many ways,” Tindell wrote in her nomination. “Crissy has been a volunteer for The Victim Center since 2013 and continues to go above and beyond to assist members of the community.”
“My grandparents and mother are really giving,” Carsten says. “I just want to make them proud. My grandfather passed around the time I started volunteering, and I know this would make him proud.”
At The Victim Center, Carsten goes out into the community to help when someone reports being assaulted. “Crissy selflessly works after-hours through the 24-hour crisis line. She offers support and provides crisis intervention to victims of violent or sexual crimes and their families. She even makes time to meet victims at area law enforcement agencies, area hospital emergency rooms or crime scenes,” Tindell wrote in her nomination.
“When someone calls and needs us, we go out to the hospital with them to provide support,” Carsten said. “We also bring a comfort kit, because anything the person was wearing at the time of the assault can be considered evidence. We don’t want people to have to leave the hospital in just the paper gown they give you there. So we provide sweats, flip-flops and other items to make sure they are comfortable.”
Her advocacy at The Victim Center has already earned Carsten recognitions. She received the President’s Volunteer Service Award and has acheived a Gold Level recognition for her work.
But the Victim Center is not the only way Carsten gives back. She coaches and refs soccer games. She also volunteers with the Make a Wish Foundation and the Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) Children’s Project.
“A-T is really close to my heart,” Carsten says. “My brother has it. It’s a recessive genetic disorder that affects 1 in every 500,000 people. He is already 11 years past the life expectancy doctors gave him when he was young. So I like to help out kids with that as much as possible.”
“I started working with Make a Wish in September, but I’d been meaning to for years,” she says. “My brother was a Make a Wish kid, so I wanted to help with that too. They were asking for volunteers at work, so I got involved that way.”
These are only a few of the ways Crissy Carsten gives back to her community. She also plans to take Senior Pictures for some that cannot otherwise afford it. “I want to start a charity with other photographers doing this,” she says. “Especially for foster kids. I think it is important for them to have some sense of normalcy since most of their life has not been so normal.
Carsten lives in Marionville with her boxer Ziva. “My family has been in this area for a long time, with my grandparents in and around Hurley and Crane. I’m very close to my family, they are very important to me.”
Carsten was shocked to find out she was getting this Red Cross award. “There were 70 other people nominated,” she says, “so it was very surprising to find out I won.” “The amount of volunteer work she does is truly remarkable,” Stacy Burks, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Southern Missouri said about Carsten receiving this award.