Column: Area Red Cross celebrates National Volunteer Week

National Volunteer Week (April 10-16), is a great time to celebrate volunteers in our community.
This year’s theme, “Celebrating People in Action,” aptly describes the Upper Palmetto Chapter volunteers. Red Cross volunteers are doers. Red Cross volunteers are people in action.
The Upper Palmetto Chapter serves York, Chester and Lancaster counties in South Carolina, with more than 500 active volunteers.
This chapter is also part of the Columbia region, which includes 28 counties from Aiken to Myrtle Beach and has more than 2,600 volunteers from all walks of life.
They come together with one common purpose – to provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
The late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love…”
“Our Red Cross volunteers are trained, ready and prepared to step in and help people down the street, across the nation and around the world,” said Donna Ashe, volunteer coordinator for the American Red Cross, Upper Palmetto Chapter.  
“They teach lifesaving safety courses, such as first aid, CPR, babysitting and caregiving,” she said. “Volunteers serve veterans, members of the military and their families, work at blood drives and respond to large- and small-scale disasters.”
During National Volunteer Week, the Upper Palmetto Chapter wants to thank each volunteer. We take this time to recognize the selfless gifts of time, money and blood the Red Cross has received from the citizens of our community.
National Volunteer Week is also a time to invite the public to join us. If you are not a volunteer, give the Red Cross a try.
Red Cross volunteers are people who are trained to perform extraordinary acts in the face of emergencies. Right now, we especially need people who are interested in health and safety training, public speaking, responding to disasters and providing clerical assistance.
For more information on Red Cross volunteer opportunities or to sign up today to be a volunteer, please call (803) 329-6575.  
About the Red Cross
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families.
The Red Cross is a charitable organization, not a government agency. It depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.  
To make a financial contribution to the Red Cross, please send donations to The American Red Cross, 200 Piedmont Blvd., Rock Hill, SC, 29732. Donations can also be made by visiting www.upredcross.org or calling (803) 329-6575.