After my first week, I knew that I needed to sign up to give blood. This past spring, I interned at Red Cross National Headquarters in the Communications Department from January to May of 2018, and during that brief period, I fell in love with the organization. Experiencing the humanitarian mission firsthand (I always knew that after she gave, I would get to eat her chocolate chip cookies so I looked forward to blood drives at school.) At the time, I did not understand the point behind the numerous phone calls from the Red Cross reminding her to sign up for her next appointment. When I saw that the Red Cross was hiring an intern, I immediately thought back to waiting for my mom in the lobby of my elementary school.

I must admit, I didn’t truly understand the worth of her donation until this year. She always just shrugs and says that it’s not a significant sacrifice of time, and that she knows she’s helping people. I’ve always been a little more hesitant with needles while I’m not afraid of needles, I had been fine with avoiding them.īut my mom has always been rather matter-of-fact about donating blood. She’s not the squeamish type–definitely not scared of needles.

A lot of her work has involved testing blood and other fluids for disease. She doesn’t consider herself a hero, and neither do many of the people who donate their blood regularly to the American Red Cross.įor more than 30 years now, my mom has worked in labs at Quest Diagnostics, and now Johns Hopkins Hospital. She has participated in blood drives for as long as I can remember, always taking the opportunity to donate when my elementary school hosted a drive. My mom is the type of person who gives without thinking.

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