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Leading Communities of Women: Amy Dornbusch’s Philanthropy with the Red Cross

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Michelle Limpe

In the philanthropic community, women are increasingly shaping how we champion impact, and Amy Dornbusch stands at the forefront of this movement. With a distinguished career in startup investments and having held numerous board positions, Dornbusch brings a unique blend of strategic business planning and deep empathy to her initiatives. Her years of dedicated philanthropy eventually led her to the American Red Cross Tiffany Circle, where she continues to inspire other women to collectively give and mobilize the vital work of our organization.

*Amy Dornbusch shows off her red bandage following her blood donation, which she made prior to attending the 30th Anniversary Red Cross Gala.*

The Tiffany Circle is a community within the Red Cross composed of women leaders that have made a commitment to advancing the organization’s mission together through women empowerment and focused investment of time and funds. With economists projecting that roughly $30 trillion will move into women’s hands over the next few years, Dornbusch observes that the impending great wealth transfer places women in an integral position to make significant impacts through their philanthropic work, emphasizing the importance of the Tiffany Circle as a key mechanism for engaging donors.

“We talk a lot about this ‘fight or flight or freeze’ response to crises, but I heard there’s another reaction, which is what women do in moments of crises: flight, freeze, and flock,” Dornbusch said.

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Building un-fur-gettable memories: A Red Cross volunteer helps veterans and dogs connect in the Central Coast Chapter

Posted on June 23, 2025 by Anton Ghosh

Each time a team of dogs and their handlers descends on the Major General William H. Gourley VA-DoD Outpatient Clinic in Marina, California, American Red Cross volunteer Penny Mount cannot help but feel a sense of satisfaction. She knows these dogs have a meaningful impact on patients, less than a year after their first visit as part of the first Red Cross’s Animal Visitation Program (AVP) in California’s Central Coast.

Penny started the AVP program in November 2024 at the request of her supervisor, Nikki Rowe. She had never built a similar program and “I knew nothing about therapy dogs,” says Penny. So, she reached out to local resources, including the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.

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Superwoman to the Rescue: Patti Childress’ Story

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Jill Feldon LaNouette

Trigger Warning: Graphic Surgery Descriptions

If it’s true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then Patti Childress must be Superwoman. The dynamic, assertive strawberry-blonde has had 40 surgeries over the past 29 years; yet, she still maintains an incredibly demanding schedule as a Blood Services account manager with the American Red Cross, where she’s responsible for getting blood drives booked and done.

Woman standing next to blood drive sign at a Red Cross Blood Donation Center in San Jose. — Patti Childress is proud to share her health history with students and adults at the American Red Cross. She says that every day, volunteer blood and platelet donors are needed across the country to help save lives.

“Yes,” she said, “it would be a lot for anyone to do,” especially given the huge territory she is responsible for across the Northern California Coastal Region. But she is committed to encouraging, scheduling, planning, organizing, overseeing and finalizing blood drives as a way to thank all the people who were willing to donate the blood and platelets she needed to save her life.

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A Courageous Fight with Cancer Inspires Hundreds to Donate, Even Mom

Posted on June 9, 2025 by Jill Feldon LaNouette

Kelly Marie Harris Packard, 1991-2024. (Photo courtesy of Diane Harris)

She was a gifted athlete, captain of her team at Scotts Valley High School and an All-American at California Polytechnic State University. Intelligent and having acquired her master’s degree, she worked in New York City with a leading accounting firm before marrying the love of her life and landing her dream job in sports marketing in Portland.

In January 2023, Kelly Harris climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, with her mother, Diane, and they reached the summit — 19,341 feet up. Shortly thereafter, Kelly was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Kelly began chemotherapy and eventually underwent radiation, all while continuing to work.

“It took a toll on her body,” Diane said. Kelly received platelets and several blood transfusions over the course of her treatment. Realizing how dependent patients are on having a sufficient blood supply for this vital treatment, Kelly organized her own blood drive.

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Sound The Alarm: 502 Homes Made Safer Thanks to Red Cross Volunteers, Local Fire Departments and Community Partners

Posted on June 4, 2025 by Aileen Blomdal

1,357 smoke alarms installed throughout the Northern California Coastal Region in this spring

The American Red Cross responds to home fires more than any other disaster nationwide, so home fire prevention is something we take seriously. For that reason, Red Cross members, along with local fire departments and community partners, to install 1,357 free smoke alarms in 502 homes, making 1,472 residents safer from homes fires during our 2025 Sound the Alarm campaign. From April 26 – May 23, communities in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Merced, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were made safer thanks to free smoke alarms and home fire prevention education.

Sound the Alarm events are a critical part of the national Red Cross Home Fire Campaign which aims to reduce the number of deaths from home fires. The Home Fire Campaign has helped save 2,320 lives since its launch in October 2014 due to working smoke alarms in homes. Nationwide, volunteers and local fire departments visit neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms and share home fire prevention information with residents, including home fire escape plans. Here in the Northern California Coastal Region, volunteers and partners have installed more than 55,300 free smoke alarms and made more than 20,000 households safer since 2014, saving 32 lives reported in the Greater Bay Area.

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Trust and Care: The Story of a Red Cross Volunteer Flight Surgeon

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Alex Keilty

“When patients come in, they automatically trust you when they see the Red Cross,” says Justin Nast, M.D., about the logo that is on his name tag. His American Red Cross badge identifies Dr. Nast as a volunteer flight surgeon entrusted with the care of U.S. Air Force aviators.

How did Dr. Nast become a Red Cross volunteer flight surgeon? Interestingly, he didn’t start his medical career planning to be a flight surgeon. In fact, he was an obstetrics and gynecology resident when he was recruited by the Air Force. (An ob/gyn is the medical specialty that encompasses pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, and the health of the female reproductive system.) After joining the armed forces, he spent eight years delivering babies and caring for the health of enlisted service women.

When the hospital he was stationed at in Germany was closing, he launched into a new career: aerospace medicine. Dr. Nast says it’s a growing branch of medicine.