Longtime Phoenix Red Cross volunteer celebrates 97th birthday
Aug 15, 2018, 5:06 PM
(American Red Cross)
(American Red Cross)
PHOENIX – Betty Grenig was 17 when she began volunteering for the American Red Cross.
“My mom made me join the Red Cross when I was a teenager — I had to knit socks for the troops,” Grenig said in a news release. “It made me mad because she did it to keep me out of trouble with the boys and knitting wasn’t nearly as much fun as hanging out with the guys.”
She learned to love volunteering and has been donating her time to the humanitarian organization for nearly eight decades.
On Wednesday, Grenig turned 97.
When she moved to Phoenix in 1961, Grenig volunteered with the Red Cross at the Williams Air Force Base hospital. When that base closed in 1993, she moved to Luke Air Force Base, where she volunteered until 2015.
Since then, she’s been helping out at the Greater Phoenix Chapter once a week. The office is throwing her a party Thursday.
In the news release, Grenig was called “a Red Cross and national treasure.”
Happy birthday, Betty.
