Story by Levi Medina, Communications volunteer and member of the Red Cross Club at USF

With compassionate leadership, Red Cross youth and young adult volunteers (age 24 or younger) create positive change in their communities while learning valuable life skills and connecting with people who share their commitment.

Many youth and youth adults choose to volunteer through high school or collegiate Red Cross Clubs, doing service and educational projects to benefit school and community. In 2021, these future leaders contributed more than 10,000 hours of service.

At the close of the 2021-2022 school year, there are 31 Red Cross Clubs – three collegiate and 28 high school – with a total of approximately 1,300 members.

In the profiles below, we’re introducing you to a series of outstanding youth and young adult volunteers who have no shortage of talent and energy to give to the Red Cross.

Neil Reddy
Satellite High School in Satellite Beach

As the founder and president of the Satellite High School Red Cross Club, Neil Reddy facilitated countless activities for his club members. Among these activities are fire safety projects, International Humanitarian Law seminars, and a vaccination drive for measles and rubella. According to Reddy, the Red Cross mission statement of “alleviating human suffering” is a significant source of inspiration for his work with the organization.

In the initial stages of his Red Cross Club, Reddy found that many students worried that joining a Red Cross organization would require them to travel to disaster sites in third world countries. Fortunately, once he explained that the group would focus primarily on community-based activities such as diversity workshops and CPR training, membership grew exponentially. In recruiting and motivating so many Red Cross volunteers, Reddy suggests that he learned a variety of valuable social skills. An aspiring doctor, he is excited to apply these skills to his physician-patient relationships.

Currently a senior, Reddy is preparing underclassmen to take leadership positions after he graduates. “I want them to understand that the Red Cross is more than just a resume builder. Twenty years from now, the club should still be upholding the Red Cross Mission statement,” says Reddy.

Luiz Alvarez
Pine Ridge High School in Deltona

Senior Luis Alvarez, President of the Pine Ridge High School Red Cross Club, is incredibly grateful for the communications skills he learned while volunteering. Prior to joining the Red Cross, Alvarez admits that he was a particularly timid person. However, by gathering the courage to become a “Be Red Cross Ready” instructor, Alvarez started his journey to becoming an exceptional presenter and communicator. An aspiring pharmacist, the soon-to-be biology major knows that these abilities are essential for maintaining positive doctor-patient relationships.

Alvarez recalls that a previous vice president of his Red Cross Club motivated him to become a model volunteer by inviting him to a food drive at a homeless shelter. There, Alvarez realized that humanitarian work was incredibly rewarding, and he hoped to pass this realization on to others.

According to Alvarez, the ability to inspire others is one of the most fulfilling aspects of volunteering with the Red Cross. The Pine Ridge Red Cross Club is always seeking new members, and Alvarez suggests that the best way to recruit students is by appealing to their kindness. “I love to show pictures of our annual toy drive,” says Alvarez. “No matter how small the toys are, the children always tell us that we made their Christmas. The drive touches hearts and is one of our greatest events for making new Red Cross friends!”

Enzo Escabasse
West Orange High School in Winter Garden

Before Enzo Escabasse started volunteering for the Red Cross last year, his high school’s Red Cross club had nearly closed. The group was participating in very few volunteer activities, and as a result, membership was dropping. Hopeful that he could revive the club, Escabasse took a leadership role and began recruiting friends. Today, only months later, the Red Cross Club at West Orange High School is 50 members stronger and one of the Central Florida Region’s most active youth groups.

Escabasse performs many roles for the Red Cross, but one of his most notable assignments is promoting fire safety as an official member of the Central Florida Regional Preparedness Team. As the
winner of the Home Fire Campaign Competition in both March and April of 2021, he is the first youth volunteer to formally join this group. Today, Escabasse is a prominent host in the region’s “Be Red Cross Ready” Microsoft Teams calls, which occur on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month.

The high school senior plans to enroll in an international law program in college and is a leading advocate of the Red Cross’s International Humanitarian Law (IHL) program. His club now has over 20 IHL advocates. He offers insight on the turnaround: “If your club is struggling, be the one to step up,” he advises. “Do not be afraid to take a leadership role.”

Sohana Raisa
Seminole High School in Sanford

Seminole High School’s Red Cross Club is celebrating the success of Sohana Raisa, a first-place winner in this year’s International Humanitarian Law (IHL) art competition! To address the IHL’s 2022 prompt of “preserving cultural property,” the sophomore submitted a painting of a severed beehive. Metaphorically, Raisa’s composition represents the only certain outcome to the defacement of cultural property: grief. The damaged state of the hive interrupts the harmony traditionally associated with a bee colony. Furthermore, the smoke of a beekeeper surrounds the hive, and many bees (shown at the hive’s base) have died as a result. To Raisa, the beehive symbolizes the value of cultural preservation, and the beekeeper’s smoke symbolizes the demolition of this value. Above all, the death of the bees, whose pollinating practices were crucial to the environment, suggests that the effects of cultural destruction are unlimited. When one culture suffers, so do the rest.

Raisa, an exclusively self-taught artist, recognizes the connection between art and activism. In previous years, she submitted paintings to Nova Southeastern University’s statewide Holocaust Reflection Contest. Still, worried that she might not have a chance at winning a national event, Raisa was initially hesitant to submit to the IHL art  competition. Luckily, her belief in the power of art and her faith in the IHL’s message motivated her to challenge herself. “The art raises awareness. If people are aware of humanitarian crimes, they may be inspired to make donations or volunteer. In this interest of raising awareness, Raisa strongly recommends participation in the IHL art competition. As someone who was originally apprehensive about submitting, she suggests that “it’s better to have tried and failed than to look back and wonder if you could have won.”

Sanjeev Varma
King High School in Hillsborough County

As he finishes his first year as a Red Cross volunteer, Junior Sanjeev Varma waits to start his senior year as the official president of King High School’s Red Cross Club. Varma, who strongly encourages youth volunteersto leave their comfort zones for the betterment of their communities,has achieved an astonishing amount for someone relatively new to the Red Cross.In addition to a myriad of roles Varma fills for the Red Cross in his immediate community, the 17-year-old is the Region’s Red Cross Field Ambassador. What makes it especially noteworthy in Varma’s case, is the fact that he bypassed the two years of Red Cross experience typically requiredfor a field ambassadorship. “When I first interviewed for the position,I admitted that I had only been with the Red Cross a few months, and that immediately disqualified me,” Varma recalls. Though mildly disappointed,he remained active in the Red Cross. Varma continued toparticipate in the organization’s bi-monthly “Be Red CrossReady” virtual preparedness presentations, led an International Humanitarian Law (IHL) campaign, and acted as the treasurer for his Club. Within only months, he became a model volunteer withan outstanding resume. In recognition of his leadership, he was offered the ambassadorship a month after his first interview. Beyond grateful for the opportunity, Varma nowmakes sure to represent the Region as enthusiastically as possible.

Varma believes that his first few months with the Red Cross allowed him to hone his leadership skills. As someone who once struggled with motivating his peers, the soon-to-be president of the King High School Red Cross Club suggests that “if you want to get everyone involved, you have to be a friend, a communicator ,and you have to connect with them on a personal level.” Varma plans to bring his exceptional leadership skills to the medical field one day, and he pledges to continue working with the Red Cross into adulthood.

Priya Tomerlin
Flagler Palm Coast High School

During her freshman year at Flagler Palm Coast High School, Priya Tomerlin hoped to join as many clubs as she could manage. As an IB student with minimal free time however, she started by searching specifically for organizations that would assist her in her path to becoming a health professional. Realizing that Flagler Palm Coast did not yet have a health-focused club, Tomerlin contacted Linda Collis, the region’s Youth Volunteer Leader (whom she met previously at a health fair). With Collis’ guidance, Tomerlin started the first youth Red Cross Club in Flagler County.

By Tomerlin’s junior year, nearly thirty students had joined the Flagler Palm Coast Red Cross Club. As schools across the nation restricted in-person meetings, Tomerlin led her club through an extended period of strictly virtual meetings. Among the many Internet-based activities she facilitated, Tomerlin guided a team of ten students from her school through an International Humanitarian Law (IHL) campaign. Furthermore, after receiving news that students from four other schools could not manage to gather their own IHL campaigns, Tomerlin integrated these volunteers into her own group. Incredibly, Tomerlin’s supergroup mentored over 10,000 people about international humanitarian law.

To commend her for her leadership and contributions to the Red Cross, the Central Florida Red Cross team awarded Tomerlin a Heroes Among Us Reward. Tomerlin received a notification email about the award between exams. The exceptional senior, who read the email five times over because she thought it was a mistake, recommends that students volunteer with the Red Cross not for the service hours, but simply to help others.

To advance her own mission of helping others, Tomerlin plans to major in microbiology at the University of Florida before enrolling in medical school. In reference to university medical programs, Tomerlin suggests that many of them seem to "focus more on the treatment of patients rather than the care of the patients as a whole.” In reference to the American Red Cross, the recent high school graduate suggests that the organization gave her “the gift of compassion.”

To learn more about Red Cross Clubs for youth and young adults, please visit www.redcrossyouth.org.