Brian Jones, features editor

On Sept. 17, the American Red Cross Club hosted their fall Blood Drive in Krannert ballroom. The Berry community answered the organization’s call by showing up in overwhelming numbers. The event featured a plethora of student volunteers and nurses, unifying the campus for a vital cause.

This year, the blood drive brought in significant results, receiving 89 pints of blood, which will aid about 267 people in need from a single drive.

The club started back in 1974 at Berry with the vision of a more localized community of medical and service events. The advent of a campus-wide blood drive occurred that same year, leading a 52-year legacy. 

Internationally, the American Red Cross holds a plethora of college clubs around the country. However, Berry’s chapter stands out, having been nationally recognized due to the school’s abundant generosity and service.  

Cris deRevere serves as the club’s staff advisor. DeRevere spearheaded the event this year, bestowing her wide area of emergency response expertise to student workers. 

DeRevere said that Berry’s Red Cross acts as a level two club under the Office of Student Involvement, meaning the program must meet various leadership and meeting requirements to remain in good standing. In that same vein, the club also holds several required events issued by the American Red Cross.

“We, as a club, through the Red Cross, are required to host four different types of events throughout the year,” deRevere said. “We hold two blood drives, which we end up hosting each semester, one training event, which is the CPR, AED classes that I instruct, and one community philanthropic event.”

Before coming to Berry, deRevere started her journey with medical community service at her alma mater: the University of Georgia (UGA). She said that she obtained a good deal of real world experience while attending, including working for the school’s Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT).

“During my time [at UGA], I did a lot of volunteer work with CERT,” deRevere said. “I was really involved with the Office of Emergency Preparedness, [where we] did a lot of search and rescue, trail safety initiatives, really focusing heavily on rescue.”

Wielding those involvements, deRevere moved to Rome where she expanded her love for helping communities in need.

“Moving to Rome, I was working with the health department in emergency preparedness,” deRevere said. “I partnered with the Red Cross a lot with shelters, emergency recovery and
  disaster recovery.”

DeRevere later arrived at Berry to work in marketing but tied her past with the Red Cross into her position. She took advantage of Berry’s existing Red Cross branch and brought her former expertise to the table.

“When I started at Berry, I happened to be an American Red Cross instructor, teaching CPR and first aid,” deRevere said. “I reached out to [Berry’s] recreation department to let them know I was a certified instructor and to see if I could help in any way. The club was then handed off to me.”

Junior Ashley Chumakunetsa serves as vice president for Berry’s Red Cross. During events like blood drives, her main role is organization and checking in with volunteers. 

“I create the volunteer sign up and make sure that we have enough volunteers or we don’t,” Chumakunetsa said. “I make sure that everyone who has donated blood got food, making sure that everyoneis being taken care of.” 

Before Chumakunetsa became vice president, she sought a higher calling of leadership within the Red Cross.

“I just wanted to know how it feels to be responsible [of the club] instead of [only] volunteering,” Chumakuetsa said. “If you’re volunteering, you don’t really have to be responsible for anything. Right now, as the vice president, I get to make sure that everyone is feeling welcome, and are satisfying all their needs.”

Junior Brandon Evans serves as a volunteer coordinator for Berry’s Red Cross. On Thursday, his role consisted of floating around Krannert ballroom to make sure everything was
running smoothly. He collaborated with Chumakunetsa to make participants feel cared for.

“I was a floater helping out the people that were [giving] blood,” Evans said. “I would also check on people and see how they were doing after they gave blood.”

DeRevere said this blood drive was a crucial milestone for the program, having consistently reached 127% of their original goal.

“We received 89 pints of blood, and every pint of blood that’s donated can help up to three people,” deRevere said. “That equates to 267 potential people that have been helped just from that one day. 35% of our donations were from first time donators, and we had about 40 volunteers over the six hours of the event.”

Aside from the initial good-will of donating blood to people in need, deRevere said the event also provides an educational service to nursing students.

“There were several nursing students who gained credit for their degrees,” deRevere said. “Some of them were able to watch some of the donations being done and see firsthand some live [needle] sticks and that whole process. It gave them a lot of secondhand experience on a lot of things as well.”

Evans is currently studying biology and finds working for the Red Cross helpful for his medical field aspirations. 

“I am [studying] integrative biology right now, so it deals with all the kinds of [biology],” Evans said. “A part of that is like you can either go into agriculture research or medical research. [The Red Cross] gives me insight into medical research, which I want to explore.”

Nationally, the program has received several awards for their event’s successes, holding its prestige as a Premier Red Cross Blood Program.

“[Premier Blood Partners] is a national recognition for programs that are consistently exceeding their goals annually,” deRevere said. “We received that status last year, and we should be able to keep it thanks to our continuous participation.”

In addition to this title, the organization received the Sponsorship Group of the Year in education last year. This prestigious award was given this year for the club’s efforts to fortify the Berry community around the blood drive.

Currently, the American Red Cross declared that they are in their second blood supply crisis ever. DeRevere said that despite all the record-breaking numbers and statistics Berry is accomplishing, more support and help is needed.

“it’s purely about service and helping the community” Chris deRevere

 “This is the second time that [the national blood supply] is the lowest that it’s ever been,” deRevere said. “The donations are getting scarce, and they need more people donating.”

For her vision of the Red Cross’ future at Berry, deRevere said the program should continue to expand in response to unpredictable world crises. The next drive will be on Feb. 25, 2027.

“We are really wanting to continue growing the blood drive program; to start bringing in with us staying consistent at those 35% first time donators,” deRevere said. “We’re really hoping to keep that going and bring in more [donors] each time.”

To usher in more donors and volunteers, the program has issued incentives such as various merchandise and collectables. This year, the blood drive initiated a special Hello Kitty theme in efforts to expand the program. Every donator received a Hello Kitty plush keyclip, raffle ticket, stickers and pizza.

“The Red Cross partnered with Hello Kitty, [being] an incentive to get people to donate,” Evans said. “We also had like a little raffle going for a bunch of prizes.”

Berry’s Red Cross Club doesn’t advertise like other clubs on campus, relying on email-only communication and flyers.

“Our club doesn’t have social media,” Chumakunetsa said. “We just keep people updated through email. That’s how Red Cross wants things to be done.”

If interested in volunteering at events or donating blood, Chumakunesta or deRevere are one email away. Though, if you don’t want to donate blood, there are meaningful community events the club holds unrelated to the medical field.

“A lot of people think that, given the history of the Red Cross Club, that [employees and volunteers] must have some kind of medical interest or pursuing a degree in nursing,” deRevere said. “That’s not the case at all; it’s purely about service and helping the community. We focus largely on contributing to that greater good of everyone involved, not just on the Berry campus, but off campus as well.”

An example of this universal service the Red Cross offers comes from an event the program held at the Cartersville Fire Department called Sound the Alarm. 

“We went into senior citizens and elderly people’s homes and educated them on their fire lines and smoke detectors,” deRevere said. “We helped change their batteries if they couldn’t reach them and would talk about fire safety for people who may not be thinking about that often.”

To the student that wants to be involved in a cause that is profoundly needed in today’s circumstances, deRevere said that no medical background is needed to change the world.

“Our focus is trying to help keep people safe in general,” deRevere said. “[Sound the Alarm] did not require any kind of medical training or anything like that. We do offer those things for volunteers if they want them, but it’s so much more than just pursuing a medical field. It’s about helping the community.”