John Weaver Named Pennsylvania Social Worker of the Year
News Release: April 5, 2002
Contact: Janice Osborne, Manager-Media & Community Affairs
(610) 865-4400, ext. 262
John D. Weaver, disaster mental health services volunteer for the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley (Bethlehem, Pa.) was recently named Social Worker of the Year by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Weaver, of Nazareth, Pa., is a casework supervisor and mental health disaster response coordinator for Northampton County Mental Health.
Weaver has been a local Red Cross volunteer for more than 10 years. He assisted at several local and national disasters including the Great Mississippi River/Midwest Floods of 1993, the 1994 airline crash in Pittsburgh, where he coordinated the disaster mental health services for morgue volunteers, and the 1996 plane crash in the Everglades, near Miami. More recently, he served as coordinator of the Red Cross Aviation Incident Response (AIR) Team's Family Assistance Center following the Sept. 11 crash of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. He then served as an assistant officer helping manage the larger World Trade Center relief operation in New York City.
"John is an extremely caring individual who is committed to his profession of helping others," said John R. Hughes, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley. "He has touched so many lives in our community and across the country. John's service to the Red Cross is legendary."
As a Red Cross volunteer, Weaver travels the country several times each year to help teach two-day classes to expand the level of preparedness. In 1995, he was awarded the Clara Barton Honor Award for Meritorious Volunteer Leadership, the highest award the American Red Cross bestows on volunteers.
"John has put himself at risk in working among the most vulnerable populations at the time and place of their vulnerability," said Dick Williams, fellow Red Cross disaster mental health services volunteer, in a letter of nomination. "He is among those who truly pioneered social work responses to the national mental health response system. What he's done to provide social work services to people in many disasters has been exceptional."
In addition to his work for Northampton County Mental Health, Weaver also works as a part-time therapist in an outpatient mental health clinic of Concern, an agency which provides foster care and group home services. He is a member of the adjunct faculty of DeSales University (Center Valley, Pa.) where he teaches undergraduate social work courses.
In addition to his direct-service work, Weaver is a founding part of EYE OF THE STORM, Inc., a private consultation and education group practice specializing in disaster mental health, crisis intervention, and risk management related training and support.
Weaver received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., and his master's in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. He has written two books, including An Untapped Resource: Working With Volunteers Who are Mentally Ill, and several articles. He's at work on a third book.
Weaver donates half of his royalties from Disasters: Mental Health Interventions (1995, Sarasota, Fla., Professional Resource Press; phone 1-800-443-3364) to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund. His publisher, Larry Ritt of Professional Resource Press, matches his donation.
He and his wife Denise are the parents of two children, Scott and Kelly.
The American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley serves more than 660,000 residents in Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties. Last year the Red Cross provided health and safety education training and emergency relief services to more than 15,700 greater Lehigh Valley residents.
For more information about your local Red Cross, visit www.redcrosslv.org.
