American Red Cross Blood Drive Volunteering by Ashley Fultz

            I volunteered at the American Red Cross Blood drive at Stevenson Hall on Eastern Illinois University’s campus for the first part of my Link Project.

            This volunteer activity relates to a few issues we have gone over in FCS 4840.  The first is situational causes of poverty.  This issue would relate to situational poverty because the blood donated may go to some individuals who are experiencing situational poverty.  They may have had an accident, or may even be dealing with a long-term illness and the blood donated will go toward helping these individuals.  I also realized through the volunteer process, and class, not many individuals who seemed to be living in poverty donated blood.  This issue goes back to the idea we have talked about since the first day of class, time.  Not many individuals who are living in poverty have time to donate blood.  They are too busy taking care of their children, finding services and working. 

            I networked with the organizer of the blood drives.  She is in charge of scheduling and recruiting individuals to donate blood.  Through observation while volunteering, I could tell she really works to be friendly and nice to the potential donors.  She wants to make them feel comfortable so they will have a good experience; making them want to donate blood again.  I believe she did a great job networking with other individuals and selling people on the importance of donating blood.  Watching her work made me realize what it takes, as a nonprofit professional, to get people to make sacrifices to help others.    

            The blood used from the blood drive will be used for individuals who need the blood after suffering from some sort of medical problem.  The blood from these drives saves lives.  Without the blood, hospitals would have a much harder time saving lives and aiding those with medical problems.

            I found the blood drive to be inspiring.  Many of the kids donating were first time donors.  One student became very light-headed and became ill from donating.  This person continued to donate, even though he was suffering from the effects.  I found it very selfless of these individuals to donate the blood, even though many of them had fears about the process.