Zionsville volunteer uses Excel expertise to assist Red Cross in Flint

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Karen Lankton Schmidt is volunteering to help the Red Cross in Flint, Mich., from her Zionsville home. (Submitted photo)
Karen Lankton Schmidt is volunteering to help the Red Cross in Flint, Mich., from her Zionsville home. (Submitted photo)

By Mark Ambrogi

Karen Lankton Schmidt is doing her share to assist those dealing with the contaminated water system in Flint, Mich., from home in Zionsville.

Schmidt is a Red Cross volunteer who uses her expertise in Microsoft Excel, which operates as a computer spreadsheet, to help. Schmidt is part of an informal, national group known as the Virtual Disaster Assessment Team that has supported a great many disaster response operations in the past four years.

“They have me mapping out all their distribution points and mapping out all the people that have received filters so they can see all the areas they’ve reached and areas they might need to focus on,” Schmidt said. “It gives them data so they can figure out what they need to do next.”

Schmidt is a project manager, so she uses Excel quite a bit. She first started helping the Red Cross with the Texas and South Carolina floods in 2015.

“We had put in everyone’s address and what kind of damage they had,” Schmidt said. “We had to put it in database. Another part of the job is spacial location and mapping to help better visualize.”

Schmidt said she underwent training to learn how to do the maps in ArcGIS, the principal mapping platform the Red Cross is using. Schmidt said data from Excel can be uploaded into the maps.

Red Cross officials on site in Flint are benefiting from Schmidt’s work.

“I’m giving them information so they can better make their decisions,” she said.

Schmidt, 54, is working with the director of planning in Flint. Schmidt mapped out nursing homes and subsidized housing areas.

“Those are vulnerable people they really needed to target,” Schmidt said.

The Red Cross is provided bottled water and water filters to those in need.

Schmidt’s husband, Michael, a recently retired software developer, has assisted the Red Cross in responding to floods in Texas and South Carolina.

Schmidt, who has her own project management consulting company, is now doing contract work for Eli Lilly & Co. She has been volunteering with Red Cross for 1 1/2 years. She said they also physically answer the call to help out at a scene if there is a fire.

Schmidt’s youngest child is Mark, a senior at Purdue, helps with Habitat for Humanity in Boone Co. She also has two daughters, Kyra, who is medical school, and Lara. All three were Zionsville Community High School graduates.


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