By Alex Keilty
Meet Alvin Ehiriodo, American Red Cross blood donor, former volunteer and current employee. When it comes to the Red Cross, Alvin has done it all!
“I believe in the mission [of saving lives],” Alvin says of his commitment to the Red Cross. “I want to work for an organization that cares about the work they do.”
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Sophia Eckert’s first experience donating platelets with the American Red Cross in January 2025 was an emotional experience. Sophia looked around at the frequent donors who, according to the phlebotomist, came weekly to give platelets and she started to think about her two-year old son Roger. “That made me tear up,” Sophia said, “thinking Roger might have used their blood product to save his life.”
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By Alex Keilty
Many Bay Area organizations are making community service part of their annual plan by giving staff paid time to volunteer or organizing events that benefit a cause close to their employees’ hearts.
Deloitte, a professional services organization and longtime supporter of the American Red Cross, hosts an annual in-house “Impact Day”. Impact Day is Deloitte’s national annual day of service in the US, an opportunity for professionals to come together and engage in social impact efforts that reflect Deloitte’s purpose commitments to help create positive change for ourselves, each other and our community, and—together—drive progress toward a more equitable and sustainable future for all.
On Friday June 7th, Deloitte professionals, nonprofit relationships, and communities connected in over 1,200 social impact projects across more than 100 US cities to drive social and economic prosperity in the communities where they live and work. This year’s Impact Day took a unique approach when Deloitte’s local staff was asked to troubleshoot a real issue: the difficulty of recruiting and retaining volunteers to transport donated blood to hospitals in the San Francisco area.
Read moreBy Sameira Sharma and Martin Gagliano
The holiday season can be a tough time for those who are away from home. For U.S. military members and their families stationed at an international military base, this feeling can be particularly strong. Aerial Chen, Service to the Armed Forces specialist for the Northern California Coastal Region, has been deployed to Poland since July 2024 to support the Red Cross mission and bring a sense of home and warmth to the service members on base.
Aerial and volunteers from the morale team coordinate several activities year-round but get especially creative around the holidays. They are excited to organize holiday traditions, including decorating Santa hats, undertaking a holiday cooking challenge, baking holiday cookies from scratch, performing surprise caroling for the troops, building gingerbread houses, and more.
“For me, this holiday [season] reminds me to be grateful,” Aerial stated. “I am currently grateful for the warm weather, delicious food, and a supportive network of family, friends, and colleagues back home in California. I am especially grateful for the care packages that folks from our Red Cross teams and staff had been sending me as it truly helps to keep me motivated in supporting our service members.”
This particular deployment has challenges like no other for Red Crossers and service members alike. From experiencing sunset at 3 p.m., lacking access to a proper kitchen to cook, or being away from loved ones for a long time, these unique moments can be difficult. “To ease these hardships, the Red Cross has helped by facilitating fun morale events every day to keep people’s spirits up, providing cooking equipment that can be used in the Morale Welfare and Recreation tent, and offering free stamps and cards to send home to loved ones,” Aerial explained.
Service members are always encouraged to volunteer with the Red Cross. “They can recruit other volunteers, brainstorm and facilitate morale events, or keep the respite room clean and stocked with snacks, hygiene supplies, and coffee, among many other activities,” Aerial commented.
As a thank you note for Aerial and her amazing team, Sergeant Daniel Sotoluna shared a story that surely portrays the Red Cross mission in action: “It was a dark and cloudy day. We had been firing tanks and enduring the cold all day, and night was fast approaching. As we sat there in the cold huddled up like penguins, the wind howled and rushed past feeling sharp like a knife. As we started to go quiet, taking a break for a couple of hours, the Red Cross showed up like an angel coming to help us fight the cold,” he said. “Morale picked up quickly within the companies of 2-12 and even after enduring such harsh cold, soldiers were able to smile and ran towards the Red Cross. Not only was hot chocolate and coffee provided which warmed the soul, but they armed us with hand warmers to help us stay warmer longer during the night. With smiles on our faces and warm fluids in our bodies we prepared for the night and thanked the volunteers of the Red Cross for coming to our aid during training and the battle of the cold. Everyone appreciated how the Red Cross provided us with support and couldn’t wait to see them once again. Thank you, Red Cross.”
We are proud to be represented abroad by Aerial Chen and many other Red Crossers who dedicate their time to our humanitarian mission. Thank you for your service!
From holding a cybersecurity internship, to attending a compelling diversity conference in Washington D.C. to becoming an active member of a national resource group, Shivang Pasi exemplifies how one can make an impact in several ways within the American Red Cross in a short time. Shivang is one of over 275,000 American Red Cross volunteers from across the country who has engaged with the organization’s humanitarian mission, though he never expected himself to be this involved when he started.
Shivang’s journey as a Red Crosser began the summer of 2024 when he secured a cybersecurity internship with the organization’s Northern California Coastal Region, which serves more than 10 million people across 15 counties from Monterey to Sonoma. As a current fourth year student at San Jose State University, Shivang was drawn to specialize in cybersecurity because of his love for puzzle solving.
Read moreRecognizing Susan Winters, Heart of the Valley Chapter’s Clara Barton Award Winner
By Selena Nisha
After retiring from a career as a speech therapist and school secretary, Susan Winters from Modesto, California found herself searching for new ways to stay engaged in her community. Susan has always believed in the importance of giving back. Her parents were active in community service and instilled in her the values of volunteerism and compassion towards others. This passion for service led her to the American Red Cross in 2010, and her contribution to the organization was recently recognized with the Clara Barton Award for Meritorious Leadership. Named after the founder of the Red Cross, the award recognizes a volunteer for their years of service in various leadership positions.
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