Rapid Relief Team Plans 500 Volunteers for International Nurses Day
Rapid Relief Team is preparing a month of international nurses day appreciation events across North America in May 2026, with volunteers from Vancouver to New York set to work alongside hospitals and healthcare facilities. The campaign comes as International Nurses Day approaches on May 12, 2026, and centers on meals, refreshments, and coffee for nurses and hospital staff.
North America volunteer plan
Across 15 locations, 500 RRT volunteers are expected to serve more than 10,000 meals during May 2026. Wes Macdonald, RRT N.A. Operations Manager, said International Nurses Day is an important opportunity to recognize the role nurses play in communities across North America, adding: "Nurses build the backbone of our healthcare system with their compassion, resilience, and professionalism every single day."
Macdonald also said: "Our volunteers are hoping to say thank you in a meaningful way by providing a meal, a moment of rest, and a reminder that their work does not go unnoticed." The events are built around that simple offer: food and a pause in the middle of a demanding shift.
Lakeshore General Hospital response
At Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Dr. Tomas Kaufman welcomed the effort and said: "This is a tremendous gesture to make the staff feel better, in recognition of all they do." He added: "We are getting more and more patients, and there are difficult times, but the staff are just incredible and dedicated."
The 2026 theme, Empowered Nurses Save Lives, gives the May campaign a specific frame, but the scale is the sharper story: 15 locations, 500 volunteers, and more than 10,000 meals in one month. Rapid Relief Team has tied the North America events to its wider volunteer network, which it says includes over 16,500 volunteers.
RRT’s wider volunteer network
Rapid Relief Team was established in 2013 by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. In 2025, RRT teams in 10 countries provided 43,500 moments of appreciation across more than 100 events supported by 1,350 volunteers, a record that shows the May 2026 North America campaign is part of a larger pattern rather than a one-off effort.
For nurses and hospital staff at the 15 sites, the immediate takeaway is practical: the appreciation effort will arrive in the form of food, coffee, and time carved out of the workday, not a pledge or announcement on paper. The month-long schedule runs through May, building toward International Nurses Day on May 12, 2026.
