Name: Samantha Holland
From: Columbus, MS
Votes: 4911
Giving the Gift of Life by Giving Blood
Through the past couple years or so, I have chosen to devote my spare time to volunteering with the
American Red Cross. This type of volunteer work was very dear to my
heart because my brothers, when they were born, had to receive
multiple blood transfusions to stay alive. Although I cannot give
blood yet due to my age, volunteering is the next best thing. This
past year, all together, I have volunteered about 200 hours to
American Red Cross. Volunteering was composed of many things,
depending on your job. Some of the different responsibilities I had
was to check donators in, administer water to people feeling faint,
and keeping an eye on people who just donated to make sure they are
feeling okay before leaving. So far, my biggest challenge as a
volunteer was when I coordinated my first blood drive. It was tough
to get enough people, but I was able to meet my goal! This was the
hardest, but most rewarding thing I have done. I enjoy knowing that I
am helping people with doing what I do. Volunteering has helped me
improve on my people skills and helped me put into perspective the
amount of resources which are put into blood drives.
I believe if something is “forward-looking” it means that the
thing can benefit you or someone in the future. I see my volunteer
work as “forward-looking” because I plan to go into the
medical field. The volunteer work I do gives me simple advantages
because I see it as a stepping stone to my career. For everyone’s
sake, I hope that, in the future, donating blood will become as
natural and routine as anything else in your life. It would benefit
not only the donator but also the three people whose lives it could
save. If I were to come back in ten or twenty years, I think I could
have made an impression and convinced someone to volunteer just like
I did.
