Despite retiring, moving from Victoria to Black Creek and becoming an empty nester within the last two years, Beverly Reist has not slowed down. 

Leaving behind a career as a senior manager for emergency response for the Canadian Red Cross for British Columbia and Yukon, Reist looked to take a step back from the stress and let herself reset. This reset didn鈥檛 last long though and soon she found herself facing a new chapter in the same field. 

After only two months of rest and a break from full-time employment, Reist found herself back in emergency response work but this time as a volunteer.

鈥淚n June I signed up to volunteer, rested for about six weeks after leaving full-time employment, resetting myself and went straight into deployment for August,鈥� said Reist.

She embraced her humanitarianism and joined a volunteer agency that kept her on her toes. The organization is the charity Team Rubicon Canada, which responds to disaster situations and helps with boots on the ground to aid those impacted by disasters and restore some of the damage left behind by natural disasters. 

The fire that ripped through Jasper earlier this year was one such disaster that Reist was deployed to. As an operations chief, she lent her support to those who spent all day in the ashes, sifting through what was left of residents' homes, hoping to find a memento or two spared by the fire. 

鈥淭hat is what was important - to know that we sifted their property and anything that was found that could help bring them closure.鈥�

Despite the disaster and sifting through over 300 properties, Reist and other volunteers found moments to share comradery and decompress together. 

鈥淥ur full team would come together every day just before dinner and we would cry. We would share the stories together; it didn鈥檛 matter age or background, we were all feeling the loss.鈥�

Volunteering for this group meant long days, sleeping on cots and being away from family for weeks at a time. Days started at 5:30 a.m. and went late into the evening, not stopping until 5 or 6 p.m.. 

鈥淲e would come back exhausted, but we came back with our hearts full, knowing that we have helped people that needed our help and wanted our help.鈥�

Jasper wasn鈥檛 Reist鈥檚 first deployment though. In 2022, she responded with the Red Cross to Hurricane Fiona in Prince Edward Island. 

鈥淚t was seeing the devastation that got to me. But I was there to help. When I landed I was told to be careful of downed power lines in the driveway of where I was staying. It caught me off guard at first and just thought to myself, 鈥榯his is intense鈥�.鈥�

The different kinds of natural disasters have stuck with Reist, who has also been deployed to the Yukon and the United States for hurricane destruction. Learning about how different each situation can be has been enlightening; the Yukon experience has stuck with Reist especially.

鈥淚 remember being deployed to the Yukon for flooding and [I] was so used to B.C. flooding from when we are coming out of the winter but for them it was flooding due to ice jams.鈥�

After leaving full-time employment, Reist didn鈥檛 know what her future would look like, but she knew she would always want to continue her humanitarian efforts. 

鈥淚 wanted to carry on as I have a lot of passion for this but I also have to be mindful of my own health.鈥�

Part of her mental health care was helped by the guiding principles of Team Rubicon Canada but Reist also has her ways of dealing with the stress and compartmentalizing the sorrow that is found in natural disasters due to interactions with the survivors of these catastrophic events. 

鈥淲e have to be mindful of our mental health. For me, after Jasper, it was literally setting up the campfire on our property and that was exactly what I needed. When I got back my daughter was here and I was able to talk it through with her.鈥�

The other organization that Reist has turned to in her new downtime is the MARS Wildlife Rescue centre in Merville. She wanted to give back to her local community and found herself in a whole new type of rescue work.

鈥淲e are cleaning up and feeding the animals that come in. I find it really rewarding. I鈥檓 just so impressed with the staff members and have learned so much. No matter what animal comes through the doors, they have a plan for it right away.鈥�

No matter where the future takes her, Reist will always embrace her humanitarian ways and give back to both her local community and wherever disaster response takes her. For December though, she will be taking a personal reset and enjoying some family time.