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.
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.
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.
For many volunteers like Katie Mahon, donating blood is an easy and impactful way to make a difference in others’ lives. But for Katie, her donations also serve a deeper purpose: honoring and commemorating her late brother, Kevin.
Giving blood has been a constant part of Katie’s life since her brother passed away at the young age of 12 from cancer.
Katie and her brothers, fall 1995, L to R: Jack, Katie, Kevin, and Ben
“When I was a kid, my parents adopted my cousin. He was like a little brother to me, so I always called him that. For me, calling him brother makes more sense because he was closer than a cousin. He was just like one of us right away,” she said. “He had a pretty rough life before he came to live with my family and had spent a lot of time in the hospital.”
While Kevin was sick, Katie saw how donating blood became a routine part of her family’s life. Her mother would donate blood every two weeks, and Katie herself began donating blood as soon as she was old enough at 16 years old.
Katie’s family turned their grief over Kevin’s death into a source of strength and goodness by choosing to take action in honor of him.
At Kevin’s funeral, Katie’s father urged their friends and family to donate blood, highlighting that Kevin got to live for as long as he could due to the generosity of other blood donors. She recalled how her father described the experience of donating blood during his eulogy.
“He said it felt about as painful as getting a haircut. It’s less painful than that,” she said. “As soon as my family started donating, I remember thinking ‘Okay, this is just part of my life now.’ They were donating while Kevin was sick after they learned how important it was.”
Even after Kevin’s death, Katie’s family continued the call for blood donations throughout her adolescence. They would host blood drives and organize blood drive trucks to come to their community in honor of Kevin.
Katie detailed that her family would even receive cards in the mail from people saying they donated blood in honor of her family.
“I knew they had to be doing it in relation to Kevin, and they understood how important it was,” she said. “I remember there was a woman who was the grandmother of one of Kevin’s best friends who donated for a long time. It became a very regular part of her life. My dad was able to convey that people did really take it to heart.”
Up to this day, her mother has kept all of the cards.
Katie with her husband and three children: L to R is Annie (2), Corey, Sam (5), Katie, Max (7)
Based in Danville, California, Katie continues her advocacy to donate blood today and shares it with her three children.“They are young, but they know when I’m going to donate blood because I’ll have to miss some time,” she said. “They often like to look at my arm and ask, ‘Did it hurt?”
Emphasizing the importance of donating blood to her children is one of the many ways that Katie lives out her mission as an American Red Cross volunteer!
She has donated countless hours of her time and effort to provide for others in need.
She recognizes that there are some misconceptions and barriers that others weigh before deciding to donate blood. However, to her, the decision always came easily.
“To me, donating is a no brainer. It’s just maybe 45 minutes out of your every two months,” she said. “My husband is terrified of needles but for someone like me who is not bothered at all, it seems like a pretty easy way to save someone’s life. It’s worth it.”
She also called out the fact that she still donates blood regularly despite having tattoos, which is something that others inaccurately believe precludes them from donating.
One of the ways that Katie recommends for new blood donors to get comfortable with the process of donating is to turn it into an activity with friends.
“My friends and I will donate together so that instead of going to get a glass of wine, we’ll just go and sit next to each other and talk. You could spend $15 on a glass of wine or do this,” she said. “One of my girlfriends, Sarah, did not like needles, but I would always talk about donating blood. We both work for a nonprofit that works with kids with cancer, so she eventually realized the reward outweighs the pain.”
She noted that there are various options for donating blood, with some less frequently than others. One of which is the Power Red Donation, where you donate two units of blood up to 3 times a year. Comparatively, Whole Blood donation can be done up to 6 times a year.
Katie is a dedicated blood donor today.
Now, more than ever, it’s even easier to make an appointment using the American Red Cross’ Blood Donor app, which is something that Katie particularly highlighted.
“Everything is just getting easier and easier about donation,” she said. “I love how you can track blood donations in the new app.”
Through her actions, Katie exemplifies the heart of an American Red Cross volunteer, constantly striving to raise awareness of the importance and impact of donating blood.
“It’s fortunately something that people don’t have to think about very often unless they’ve been confronted with needing blood or know someone that needs blood,” she said. “Talking about donating blood and sharing it on social media and bragging about yourself may feel funny, but it’s worth it to remind people.”
Every time Katie donates blood, she continues to honor her brother, Kevin, and shares some of his light in everyone’s life she touches through her story and advocacy.
You, too, can continue to honor Kevin and countless other lives by visiting redcrossblood.org to make a donation appoint to make a lasting impact!
When Catalina Ramirez-Vaughn was five years old and living in Mexico, something unforgettable happened to her younger sister, who was just a toddler at the time. Catalina was so affected by witnessing the incident and its aftermath that it has become her main motivation for organizing blood donation campaigns that support the American Red Cross.
It was 1964, and her mother had just given birth to a younger brother. Grandma was looking after the children while drawing a bath of stove-boiled water because, as Catalina said, “We didn’t have running water.”
“My sister,” Catalina recalled, “didn’t listen to Grandma’s warnings to stay out of the hot water.” It happened so quickly that no one had time to stop the toddler, who stumbled into the scalding bath water.
The American Red Cross has many blood and platelet donors with different motives when it comes to visiting our blood donation centers and sharing the gift of life. These are just some of the many reasons that inspire the Chang sisters, Angie and Annie, to spend quality time together, creating a special bond as they donate blood.
Angie and Annie Chang at their favorite ice cream parlor near the Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Oakland. Photo courtesy of Angie Chang
They have both been rolling up their sleeves to donate blood or platelets for more than a decade with their preferred location being the Oakland Blood Donation Center. Sometimes they donate on separate occasions or different Red Cross blood centers but they enjoy donating together most of all. They’ve been able to build fond memories with each other, with the blood center volunteers and particularly enjoy the variety of snacks in the canteening area. Donating blood gives them extra quality time to hang out and catch up with each other while saving lives!
Angie has been able to donate more than 18 units of blood and also serves as an inspiration to her younger sister. Her bravery and consistency helped Annie get over her fears of donating for the first time.
Tracy Cox and Susan Smithcamp-Cox, showing their pride to be blood donors. Photo courtesy of Caitlin Cox
Many blood donors are proud of their donations for various reasons, and my parents are two of those donors who are really proud. Tracy Cox and Susan Smithcamp-Cox are long time blood donors and have shown me as their daughter, Caitlin, that I too can give back to the community by being part of the American Red Cross.
When I was quite young, I started going with my dad to Delta Blood Bank in Turlock which later became a Red Cross Donation Center. When I would go with him, I would always work on a puzzle while he was giving blood.
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