If you can donate it, Mary Dorst has probably given it. Hair? Check! Blood? Check! An organ? Check!
Her latest donation was giving plasma at the Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Oakland, which is something she does about every six weeks. After donating Mary, 59, says, “Physically I feel fine and emotionally I feel good. I know my donation will help anyone with a need in the hospital.”
As a little girl in the early 1970’s Mary regularly accompanied her father when he donated blood. “I used to sit next to him while he donated. I especially liked the juice and cookies after,” she remembers.
The Volunteer of the Year Award honors individuals who best exemplify the humanitarian spirit of volunteerism.
It’s the highest honor a volunteer can achieve within our chapters, meaning that they made significant contributions to the American Red Cross over the last calendar year. These volunteers worked in multiple roles alongside fellow volunteers and staff, providing support to all lines of service. In short, they exemplify the Red Cross mission, and we are proud to share the 2022 award winners.
Long-time Oakland blood donor Jasper Smith reached a 50-gallon donation milestone
Photo courtesy of Jasper Smith
Jasper Smith is a true humanitarian: he has been a blood and platelet donor for more than 13 years. On April 20, 2023, he achieved an incredible milestone with his 50-gallon platelet donation.
When we asked who inspired him to make his first donation, he shared the memory of his friend, Chaznee Brown. “She passed away some years ago from sickle cell anemia. She was hosting a blood drive for the Blue Tag program and asked if I would consider donating. At the time I had never done a blood donation, but I was down to help,” Jasper said.
Photos by Albert and Virginia Becker / American Red Cross
In the heart of scenic Loma Mar’s Redwood Glen Camp, more than 120 enthusiastic and driven students from across the Bay Area gathered for a transformative experience. The American Red Cross Leadership Development Center (LDC), a four-day conference, aims to empower individuals ages 13 – 18 with essential leadership skills, disaster preparedness knowledge, lifesaving skills and the opportunity to make an impact in their communities. Packed with engaging activities, inspirational speakers and unforgettable moments, LDC always promises to be an adventure for these aspiring young Red Crossers.
Through hands-on training and simulations, delegates learned crucial techniques for emergency response, first aid and CPR. Delegates gained a deeper understanding of the Red Cross’ five lines of services and how to get involved through several interactive workshops. Regional Red Cross leadership and Board Members also joined them for a day to share what inspired them to serve with the organization and how passion for leadership can be turned into action at any age. They even had the opportunity to create a “Shark Tank” style sales pitch on the importance of donating blood, which helped instill a sense of responsibility to this lifesaving cause.
Paulina Munoz, lead for the winning team Photo courtesy of Paulina Munoz.
Story by Richard Payne
Creating a successful campaign focused on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that is fun, engaging, and educational would seem like a daunting task. Doing it with a virtual team of high school students who never met face-to-face would seem doubly difficult. Yet, the winning team in the 2022-2023 Northern California Coastal Region (NCCR) IHL Youth Action Campaign did just that.
In Northern California, 8 teams, comprised of nearly 40 high school students, participated in IHL training. Each team then developed and delivered IHL awareness campaigns at their schools during the academic year. As a culmination of the campaign, a symposium was held to showcase each team’s work, the struggles they faced and the efforts they took to overcome those challenges. A panel of judges scored each campaign on a series of factors and chose the team that demonstrated the best problem-solving and leadership skills.
Razi Aftab and Paulina Munoz led the winning team, which included students from two of the region’s Red Cross chapters – the North Bay and the Heart of the Valley Chapter, covering Stockton and the surrounding area. Because the team members lived far apart, they only met virtually in weekly calls.
Paulina believed the bond they formed was one of the team’s greatest strengths. “The best part of the campaign was being able to work as a team throughout the term. We got to know the other team members and felt connected. As a result, we were a lot more productive,” she said/
A screenshot from the Instagram account of the team, showing the activities they planned for the campaign.
In building their campaign, the team members identified that their peers had limited knowledge of the Red Cross or International Humanitarian Law. That’s why the team felt that engaging students had to be their number one priority.
“Attracting youth to be involved in the campaign was a challenge. That’s why we focused on having activities that we thought our peers would enjoy as opposed to approaching this campaign from a teaching perspective,” Razi explained.
During the academic year, each team member organized and hosted events at their school around the topic of IHL. The team also created activities and events such as interactive question-based games that tested the advocate’s knowledge on IHL.
“Probably the most distinct event was our escape room,” Razi said. “We had case studies on International Humanitarian Law and asked the advocates to work through those examples. They had to review the scenarios and apply the information they had learned to come up with the best option. We had very good engagement with that!”
In summarizing their personal experiences with the campaign, Razi shared: “Our greatest takeaway was that we were able to foster a sense of community. The program felt like a group effort rather than an academic exercise. It was voluntary and each person contributed to reaching the end goal of increasing the understanding of International Humanitarian Law.”
Paulina had similar sentiments about this experience: : “A lot of the students who participated in the campaign came into it with no idea what international humanitarian law was about. Through their participation in the campaign, they took away an understanding of IHL and the knowledge that international humanitarian law and services were more available to them than they thought. It was a great way to get them to know their community, the Red Cross, and what we stand for as a society.”
Congratulations to these incredible teams on formulating a thoughtful campaign and for spreading awareness about IHL!
Fifth Graders Fundraise for Turkey-Syria Earthquake Relief
By Pooja Klebig
The students in Ms. Mary Horath’s 5th grade class at Gateway School in Santa Cruz were moved to help when they heard about the 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria earthquake on February 6, 2023. The quake impacted an area nearly the size of Germany, affecting 14 million people and leaving 1.5 million homeless; nearly 60,000 people lost their lives.
Gateway School students pose with their donation “check,” Red Cross Chapter CEO Michele Averill (center) and teacher Mary Horath (right). Photo by Virginia Becker/American Red Cross
“We were studying about the earthquake in our current events. That’s when we decided to help,” said student Rachel Fisher when asked what motivated the class to help.
The students held a school-wide walk-a-thon to raise money for disaster relief and response efforts. They went door-to-door to collect pledges, put up posters, and encouraged their classmates to participate. They even bought, sliced, and passed out orange slices to the walk-a-thon participants. All of their hard work paid off: They raised more than $15,000, which they were eager to donate to the American Red Cross.
Michele Averill, CEO of the Central Coast Chapter of the Red Cross, and Violet Nguyen, Regional Red Cross Philanthropy Officer, had the pleasure of accepting this generous gift through a check presentation at the school earlier this month.
Smiles all around for disaster relief! Photo by Virginia Becker/American Red Cross
“The joy in these kids’ hearts was simply overwhelming and inspiring,” said Michele. “Hearing their motivation of why they created the fundraiser and walk-a-thon filled my heart.”
The journey to recovery continues in Turkey and Syria for the millions affected by one of the biggest disasters to impact the region in years. Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers continue to provide people with food, clean water and essential hygiene and relief supplies. As a response of this magnitude requires a team effort, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from around the world continue to provide aid, including the American Red Cross. Earlier this year, two U.S. disaster responders were deployed to the relief efforts, specializing in communications and information management; the organization continues to assess ongoing needs.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent will continue earthquake recovery efforts in the months and years to come thanks to volunteers and the generosity of donors just like the Gateway School students. We are very grateful for their hard work to raise vital funds to support these relief efforts by engaging our local community and making a difference worldwide. These young humanitarians are an inspiration to us all. On behalf of those we serve, thank you Gateway School for your compassion and philanthropic spirit!
Your Red Cross Update 