My First Encounter with Superheroes

By: Cassylee Mead

We live in a world where people are fighting for their country overseas and also need to connect with their family back home. Meanwhile, a hurricane can strike and displace thousands of families, who now need a safe place to stay. At the same time, every two seconds, someone desperately needs blood. We live in a world where so many things can go wrong and we need to be prepared.

I joined the Snohomish County Red Cross Chapter June 1^st and I am now working with volunteers, who are busy every day answering those calls at the American Red Cross. Never have I ever met so many good natured people in such a short amount of time.

This is large corps of volunteers. They are the ones who will connect families in a crisis. They are the ones who mobilize in the face of disaster. They are the ones who hold countless blood drives. They are the ones who offer classes, like CPR and First Aid that give you the skills to be prepared and save a life.  Their work amazes me. For instance, right now, as part of the Home Fire Campaign, they are giving out free smoke alarms and installing them to make people in the community safer from home fires. They responded to the Washington landslide and recent, devastating, forest fires.

Volunteers make up more than 90 percent of the Red Cross humanitarian workforce. Thanks to these people, the Red Cross is able to perform its mission: to alleviate and prevent human suffering in the face of emergencies. To me, they are superheroes.

It is such an honor to be able to tell the story of the Snohomish County Chapter as a Public Information Officer. The more I know about The American Red Cross the more I love it and the prouder I am to be involved.