Preparing for retirement after a fast-paced 30-year career in nursing, Deborah Harper imagined easing into the world of volunteer service only after a careful evaluation process. “I felt I was too young to do nothing, but I also wanted to have some fun with my new free time.” Read more
Portrait of Clara Barton in 1881, the year she founded the American Red Cross. She was 60 years old.
Each year, a small number of people from our region are selected to receive Clara Barton Awards, the highest honor that the American Red Cross bestows upon its volunteers. The award recognizes meritorious service in volunteer leadership positions held over a period of years.
The award not only honors volunteers, it serves to remind us of the founder of the American Red Cross, a remarkable woman who led our organization for its first 23 years of existence. Read more about Clara Barton here. Read more
Art Bruns hasn’t been the type to let everyday challenges get in the way of him doing great work for the American Red Cross — for the past 20 years. He seems just too optimistic for that, possessing an inquisitive mind that is paired with a can-do attitude.
In fact, in and around the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, where Art has thrived as both an employee and a volunteer in Blood Services, his penchant for positive problem-solving has endeared him to work colleagues, blood donors, and the chapter’s hospital partners. Read more
Red Cross volunteers from the Silicon Valley Chapter take time out from their work on February 24 to pose for a photo at the mobile home park.
By Larry Dietz
On Saturday, February 24, volunteers from the American Red Cross of the Silicon Valley installed 164 smoke alarms in the Moss Creek Mobile Home Community in San Jose. The work was done as part of the Red Cross’ regional Sound the Alarm – Save a Life campaign. Read more
Peggy Goebel is shown with Rene Steinhauer, center, and State Senator Mike McGuire.
American Red Cross volunteer and Windsor resident Peggy Goebel had barely unpacked from her deployment to Hurricane Harvey when she was evacuated to the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building in the early hours of October 9. She was one of hundreds of area residents, fleeing wildfires, who were streaming into the facility. Read more
By Virginia Becker
Brad Gordon
As much as Brad Gordon imagined doing volunteer work, for most of his life he simply had no extra time to pursue that dream. Living in Los Gatos, Brad was understandably busy with a family that included two children and work that was defined by a 35-year career at IBM.
But Brad’s availability changed in 2010, when he decided to retire. Without the demands of a full-time job and with both of his children now grown, he was suddenly quite free to reconsider his dream of pursuing volunteer work.
In Brad’s case, that dream has become a very vivid reality … with the American Red Cross. Read his story Read more
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